Competitive endogenous RNA (ceRNA) plays a vital role in cancer stem cells. In the present study, we aimed to investigate the role of the circular RNA (circRNA) antisense to the cerebellar degeneration-related protein 1 transcript (CDR1as) during competitive inhibition of microRNA-7 (miR-7) in the regulation of autophagy to modulate the proliferation and migration of breast cancer stem cells. The CD44⁺/CD24^- phenotype breast cancer stem cells were sorted from the original MCF7 cell by flow cytometry. RT-qPCR was applied to assess the expression of CDR1as and miR-7 in MCF7-Parent and MCF7-Stem cells. The activity of autophagy was evaluated followed the knockdown and overexpression of CDR1as. The correlation between CDR1as and miR-7 and between CDR1as and miR-7-target mRNAs were evaluated. This study revealed that CDR1as overexpression was associated with up-regulation of autophagy and that CDR1as competitive inhibition of miR-7 enhanced the LKB1-AMPK-mTOR signaling and autophagy-associated genes in breast cancer stem cells. CDR1as promoted the cell growth and migration of breast CSCs via the CDR1as/miR-7 axis, and knockdown of CDR1as and miR-7 overexpression obviously impaired the ability of growth and migration. The present study added a new view of developing a new therapeutic strategy against breast cancer.

竞争性内源性 RNA (ceRNA) 在癌症干细胞中起着至关重要的作用。在本研究中，我们旨在研究小脑变性相关蛋白 1 转录物 (CDR1as) 反义的环状 RNA (circRNA) 在竞争性抑制 microRNA-7 (miR-7) 中调节自噬以调节的作用。乳腺癌干细胞的增殖和迁移。CD44 ⁺ /CD24 ^-表型乳腺癌干细胞是通过流式细胞术从原始 MCF7 细胞中分选出来的。RT-qPCR 用于评估 CDR1as 和 miR-7 在 MCF7-Parent 和 MCF7-Stem 细胞中的表达。在CDR1as的敲低和过表达之后评估自噬的活性。评估了 CDR1as 和 miR-7 之间以及 CDR1as 和 miR-7 靶标 mRNA 之间的相关性。该研究表明，CDR1as 过表达与自噬的上调相关，并且 CDR1as 对 miR-7 的竞争性抑制增强了乳腺癌干细胞中的 LKB1-AMPK-mTOR 信号传导和自噬相关基因。CDR1as 通过 CDR1as/miR-7 轴促进乳腺 CSCs 的细胞生长和迁移，并且敲低 CDR1as 和 miR-7 过表达明显损害了生长和迁移能力。