A circular RNA from the MDM2 locus regulates proliferation by suppressing basal p53 levels

Circular RNAs (circRNAs) are a class of noncoding RNAs produced by a non-canonical form of alternative splicing called back-splicing. To investigate a potential role of circRNAs in the p53 pathway, we analyzed RNA-seq data from colorectal cancer cell lines (HCT116, RKO and SW48) in the presence or absence of DNA damage. Surprisingly, unlike the strong p53-dependent induction of hundreds of p53-induced mRNAs, only a few circRNAs were induced from the p53-induced genes. Circ-MDM2, an annotated circRNA from the MDM2 locus, was one of the handful of circRNAs that originated from a p53-induced gene. Given the central role of MDM2 in suppressing p53 protein levels and p53 activity, we investigated the function of circ-MDM2. Knocking down circ-MDM2 with siRNAs that targeted the circ-MDM2 junction and had no effect on linear MDM2 mRNA, resulted in increased basal p53 levels and growth defects in vitro and in vivo. Consistent with these results, transcriptome profiling showed increased expression of several direct p53 targets, reduced Rb phosphorylation and defects in G1-S progression upon silencing circ-MDM2. Our results reveal the role of a novel circRNA by which the MDM2 locus suppresses p53 levels and cell cycle progression. RNA samples were collected in biological duplicates from HCT116 control and circ-MDM2 knockdown HCT116 cells.