We firstly found that circPVT1 was overexpressed in clinical NSCLC tissues and cell lines. NSCLC patients with high expression of circPVT1 exhibited aggressive clinicopathological characteristics and poor prognosis. In vitro assays of the NSCLC cell lines (H1299 and A549 cells) demonstrated that knockdown of circPVT1 inhibited NSCLC cell proliferation and induced NSCLC cell apoptosis. We further found that circPVT1 served as a competing endogenous RNA of miR-497 and indirectly regulated Bcl-2 expression in NSCLC cells. Finally, inhibition of miR-497 abrogated the effects of circPVT1 knockdown in NSCLC cells.
Circular RNA PVT1 acts as a competing endogenous RNA for miR-497 in promoting non-small cell lung cancer progression.