Circular RNA circMAN2B2 facilitates lung cancer cell proliferation and invasion via miR-1275/FOXK1 axis

Highlights: • CircMAN2B2 knockdown suppresses lung cancer cell proliferation and invasion. • CircMAN2B2 sponges and represses miR-1275 expression in lung cancer. • miR-1275 exerts its role by regulation of FOXK1 expression in lung cancer. • CircMAN2B2 promotes lung cancer cell proliferation an invasion via circMAN2B2/miR-1275/FOXK1 signaling. Lung cancer remains a leading cause of cancer-related deaths worldwide. In the past years, increasing reports indicate that circular RNAs (circRNAs) exert a great important role in human cancers, including lung cancer. However, the knowledge about circRNA in lung cancer remains very little so far. In the present study, we screened out a highly expressed novel circRNA named circMAN2B2 in lung cancer tissues. We investigated the function of circMAN2B2 and found that circMAN2B2 knockdown significantly inhibited cell proliferation and invasion in both H1299 and A549 lung cancer cells. Mechanistically, we found that circMAN2B2 could sponge miR-1275 to inhibit its level. Through a series of functional experiments, we dissected the role of miR-1275 in lung cancer and proved the anti-tumor role of miR-1275. Furthermore, we found that miR-1275 exerted its role in lung cancer by regulating FOXK1 expression. In addition, we demonstrated that restoration of FOXK1 could rescue circMAN2B2 knockdown-induced repression of cell proliferation and invasion. Taken together, our study demonstrated that circMAN2B2 acts as an oncogenic role in lung cancer through promoting FOXK1 expression by sponging miR-1275.