Circular RNA hsa-circ-0016347 promotes proliferation, invasion and metastasis of osteosarcoma cells

Circular RNAs (circRNAs) are a novel class of non-coding RNA which have recently shown huge capabilities in the regulation of gene expression at the post-transcriptional level. Growing evidence has indicated that circRNAs could serve as competing endogenous RNAs (ceRNAs) to bind with microRNAs (miRNAs) and to inhibit the activity and function of the targeted miRNAs. Here, we demonstrated that circ-0016347 acted as a positive regulator in osteosarcoma cells proliferation and invasion. Moreover, circ-0016347 was identified as a sponge of miR-214 that upregulated the expression of caspase-1, which is the functional target of miR-214. Our study provides novel insight into the regulatory mechanism of circ-0016347 and its downstream targets in proliferation, invasion and metastasis of osteosarcoma cells, which will facilitate further development in the therapy of osteosarcoma.