Circular RNA circSCMH1 regulates glycolysis to inhibit gastric cancer metastasis via miR-296-3p/HSPB7-GLUT3 axis.

Metastasis is main reason leading to gastric cancer (GC) caused death. GC metastasis is known to be associated with complex factors, of which circular RNAs (circRNAs) become hot molecules recently. How to effectively select key molecules participating in GC metastasis is still needing to be resolved. Through next-generation sequencing, metastasis-driven circRNAs were selected by comparing cancer and para-cancer tissues from GC patients with different metastasis tendency. The biological function of circSCMH1 was identified in vivo and in vitro. Through luciferase reporter system and functional rescue test, the downstream microRNA and target gene were identified. Glucose uptake, lactic acid production and ATP production were detected to estimate glycolysis level. Moreover, 110 GC samples were collected and following clinical association analysis was conducted. circSCMH1 showed significantly lower expression in high-metastasis GC. circSCMH1 could suppress glycolysis to inhibit GC proliferation and metastasis in vivo and in vitro, and played its biological function through miR-296-3p/HSPB7-GLUT3 axis. circSCMH1 showed closely association with GC lymph node metastasis and prognosis. circSCMH1 could inhibit gastric cancer metastasis through regulating glycolysis via miR-296-3p/HSPB7-GLUT3 axis. circSCMH1 could become potential biomarker for GC lymph node metastasis and even therapeutic target in the future.