CircMTDH promotes the development of gastric cancer and the mechanism

Abstract

Gastric cancer (GC), with high incidence and mortality, is one of the deadliest cancers, significantly impacting human health and imposing a huge socioeconomic burden. This disease is usually found at a later period due to lacking effective early diagnostic methods, leading to poor treatment outcomes and prognosis. Therefore, exploring effective biomarkers is crucial for a definite diagnosis and treatment of this disease. Circular RNA (circRNA) has been found to have significant effects during the generation and progression of GC, presenting a potential to be developed as early diagnostic markers for this disease. This study identified a circular RNA named circMTDH, that with a significantly higher expression in GC patients’ tissues and cells, which is closely related to the tumor size. Further investigation unveiled that circMTDH promotes GC development through circMTDH/miR-1287-5p/paxillin (PXN) axle. Exactly, circMTDH promotes the proliferation, migration, and invasion of gastric cancer cells by modulating the levels of miR-1287-5p and PXN expression. On the other hand, circMTDH expedites the development of tumors in mice by accelerating macrophages to polarize from M0 to M2. These findings indicate that circMTDH holds promise as a diagnostic biomarker, assisting in GC treatment and prognosis assessment.