Circular RNAs (circRNAs) have been increasingly demonstrated to function as novel promising therapeutic RNA molecules for diverse human diseases, including cancer. Although the important role of circRNAs has been well documented in HCC, the complex mechanisms of circRNAs in HCC need to be elucidated. Here, a novel circRNA circ_0001955 was identified from three GSE datasets (GSE7852, GSE94508, and GSE97322) as a differentially expressed circRNA between HCC and normal samples. We revealed that circ_0001955, TRAF6 and MAPK11 levels were increased, while miR-516a-5p levels were decreased in HCC tumor tissues compared to adjacent normal tissues. Knockdown of circ_0001955 repressed HCC tumor growth in vitro and in vivo, while overexpression of circ_0001955 exhibited the opposite effect. Circ_0001955 was identified as a sponge for miR-145-5p and miR-516a-5p, and TRAF6 and MAPK11 were demonstrated to be two target genes of miR-516a-5p. In conclusion, circ_0001955 facilitated HCC tumorigenesis by sponging miR-516a-5p to release TRAF6 and MAPK11 expression.

中文翻译：

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Circ_0001955通过使miR-516a-5p海绵化以释放TRAF6和MAPK11，促进肝细胞癌（HCC）的肿瘤发生。

环状RNA（circRNA）已被越来越多地证明可作为多种有前景的新型治疗性RNA分子，可用于多种人类疾病，包括癌症。尽管circRNA的重要作用已在HCC中得到了很好的证明，但仍需要阐明circRNA在HCC中的复杂机制。在这里，从三个GSE数据集（GSE7852，GSE94508和GSE97322）中鉴定出一种新颖的circRNA circ_0001955，作为HCC和正常样品之间差异表达的circRNA。我们发现，与邻近的正常组织相比，HCC肿瘤组织中的circ_0001955，TRAF6和MAPK11水平升高，而miR-516a-5p水平降低。敲除circ_0001955在体外和体内均抑制了HCC肿瘤的生长，而circ_0001955的过表达则表现出相反的作用。Circ_0001955被鉴定为miR-145-5p和miR-516a-5p的海绵，并且TRAF6和MAPK11被证明是miR-516a-5p的两个靶基因。总之，circ_0001955通过使miR-516a-5p海绵化以释放TRAF6和MAPK11表达来促进肝癌的发生。