Sorafenib resistance related circRNAs

Sorafenib resistance up-regulated circRNA_104797 could be transmitted by exosomes and responsible for the spread of Sorafenib resistance among HCC cells. CircRNA_104797 was critical for Sorafenib resistance maintenance and silencing circRNA_104797 could substantially increase the efficacy of Sorafenib by inducing apoptosis. Mechanism dissection unveiled that circRNA_104797 could specifically sponge miR-103a-2-5p and miR-660-3p and act as a competing endogenous RNA (ceRNA), thus competitively activated wnt/β-catenin pathway and induced Sorafenib resistance. Meanwhile, LC-MS/MS also revealed that circRNA_104797 could specifically bind to translation related proteins, which might regulate downstream glycan biosynthesis and lipid metabolism, and finally induce Sorafenib resistance. In vivo experiments portrayed a promising clinical application by locally injection of in vivo-grade siRNA for circRNA_104797 by TACE or other manners, which could intensively enhance Sorafenib efficacy in HCC patients. The clinical application of in vivo-grade siRNA for circRNA_104797 in Sorafenib treated HCC patients might shed bright future for the management of advanced HCC. Arraystar Human circRNA Array analysis specifically for human circular RNAs splicing sites was used with six HCC cell samples (3 parental HepG2 samples and 3 Sorafenib resistant HepG2 samples) in the present study.