Circle RNA PLEC Acts as a Sponge of Microrna-198 to Promote Gastric Carcinoma Cell Resistance to Paclitaxel and Tumorigenesis

Abstract Gastric carcinoma (GC) is one of the most frequent type of malignancy all over the world. The resistance of Paclitaxel (PTX) has become the obstacle of the prognosis of GC, and the underlying mechanism of is not clear. Previous study showed that GC-related circRNAs have been identified via microarray analysis and bioinformatics analysis, and we discovered that circPLEC (hsa_circ_0085923) remarkably upregulated in GC cells. The molecular mechanism of circPLEC in PTX-resistance GC cells still needs to explore.The expression of circPLEC in GC cells, PTX-resistant GC cells and GC tissues was analyzed by qRT-PCR. CircPLEC was knocked down in GC cells by transfecting shRNA, and then we used the CCK-8 assay, transwell, and FCM analysis to verify the effect in circPLEC in PTX-resistant GC cells. Additionally, we used luciferase reporter assays to confirm the relationship among circPLEC, miR-198 and MUC19.In present study, qRT-PCR exhibited that circPLEC were upregulated in PTX-resistant GC tissues and cells, indicating that circPLEC boost the PTX resistance of GC. circPLEC downregulation could weaken the GC resistance to PTX and the ability of tumorigenesis, migration and invasion, and promote the apoptosis of PTX-resistant GC cells. miR-198 inhibitor could revise the effect of circPLEC downregulation in PTX-resistant GC cells, and MUC19 downregulation could weaken the GC resistance to PTX and the tumorigenesis, and improve the apoptosis of PTX-resistant GC cells. In summary, circPLEC acts as a sponge of miR-198 to promote the PTX resistance and tumorigenesis of GC cells by regulating MUC19 expression.