Basic Study
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2023. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Gastroenterol. Dec 14, 2023; 29(46): 6060-6075
Published online Dec 14, 2023. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v29.i46.6060
Exosome-mediated transfer of circRNA563 promoting hepatocellular carcinoma by targeting the microRNA148a-3p/metal-regulatory transcription factor-1 pathway
Zhuo-Zhen Lyu, Meng Li, Ming-Yu Yang, Mei-Hong Han, Zhen Yang
Zhuo-Zhen Lyu, Meng Li, Ming-Yu Yang, Mei-Hong Han, Zhen Yang, Department of Infectious Diseases, Shandong Provincial Hospital Affiliated to Shandong First Medical University, Jinan 250021, Shandong Province, China
Author contributions: Yang Z designed and coordinated the study, and wrote the manuscript; Lyu ZZ, Li M, Yang MY, and Han MH performed the experiments; Lyu ZZ, Li M, Han MH, and Yang Z acquired and analyzed the data; Lyu ZZ, Han MH, and Yang Z interpreted the data; and all authors approved the final version of the article.
Supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China, No. 81972606 and 82271774.
Institutional review board statement: The study was conducted in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki and approved by the Institutional Medical Ethics Committee of Shandong Provincial Hospital (protocol code NSFC: NO.2019-012; date of approval: 02/19/2019).
Institutional animal care and use committee statement: The animal study was approved by the Animal Ethics Committee of Shandong Provincial Hospital (protocol code NSFC: NO.2019-021; approval date: 02/19/2019).
Conflict-of-interest statement: All the authors report no relevant conflicts of interest for this article.
Data sharing statement: The datasets used and/or analyzed during the present study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.
ARRIVE guidelines statement: The authors have read the ARRIVE guidelines, and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to the ARRIVE guidelines.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Zhen Yang, MD, PhD, Doctor, Professor, Department of Infectious Diseases, Shandong Provincial Hospital Affiliated to Shandong First Medical University, No. 324 Jingwu Road, Jinan 250021, Shandong Province, China. yangzhen@sdfmu.edu.cn
Received: September 29, 2023
Peer-review started: September 29, 2023
First decision: October 16, 2023
Revised: October 24, 2023
Accepted: November 17, 2023
Article in press: November 17, 2023
Published online: December 14, 2023
Processing time: 74 Days and 18.5 Hours
Core Tip

Core Tip: We identified the functional implications and mechanisms of exosomal hsa_circ_0000563 (circ563) in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Mesenchymal stem cells suppressed HCC proliferation and invasion via their exosomes. The circ563 interacts with miR-148a-3p, a molecule involved in HCC progression, and both are identified at different levels in exosomes. The tumor-promoting effects of circ563 were partially suppressed by miR-148a-3p overexpression or depletion of metal-regulatory transcription factor-1 (MTF-1). Xenograft experiments performed in nude mice confirmed that circ563-enriched exosomes facilitated tumor growth via MTF-1 upregulation. Our findings provide new insights into circ563/miR-148a-3p/MTF-1 signaling as a potential therapeutic target for HCC.