Abstract
Oral squamous cell carcinoma is one of the most common malignant tumors of the head and neck. Increasing evidence suggests that various non-coding RNAs, such as circRNAs, are implicated in a myriad of biological processes supporting tumor progression. Recent studies have revealed that several circRNAs are dysregulated in oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC). However, their functional role in OSCC and the underlying mechanism remains to be further investigated. In this study, we aim to evaluate the biological role and survey the molecular mechanism of circBCL11B in regulating the progression of OSCC. We demonstrated that circBCL11B was significantly upregulated in OSCC tissues and cell lines, and the expression level was correlated with the malignancy. Silencing cirCBCL11B inhibited cell proliferation and migration, and also included cell apoptosis in OSCC cells. miR-145 was identified as a downstream target mediating the effect of circBCL11B by targeting LASP1. miR-145 negatively regulated LASP1 expression, which could be rescued by miR-145 inhibitor. Collectively, our study uncovered a functional role of circBCL11B/miR-579/LASP1 axis in OSCC, implying that targeting these molecules could be an intervention approach in OSCC treatment.