Inhibiting of circ-TLK1 inhibits the progression of glioma through down-regulating PANX1 via targeting miR-17-5p

Glioma remains the most common malignant tumors in the central nervous system and often has poor prognosis. In recent years, it has been gradually revealed that non-coding RNA effects glioma progression. In this study, we aimed to investigate the significance of circular RNA TLK1 (Circ-TLK1) in predicting the survival of glioma patients as well as its role in glioma development via both in-vitro and in-vivo experiments. We found that Circ-TLK1 was conspicuously up-regulated in glioma tissues compared with adjacent normal tissues, and the up-regulated Circ-TLK1 was significantly correlated with glioma patients’ larger tumor volume and higher grades. Functionally, Circ-TLK1 over-expression facilitated glioma growth, migration and invasion, inhibited cell apoptosis, and accelerated PANX1/MAPK/ERK expression, while Circ-TLK1 low expression had the opposite effects. In addition, bioinformatics analysis showed that miR-17-5p was a potential target of Circ-TLK1 and targeted at PANX1. Furthermore, through dual luciferase viability assay, Circ-TLK1 acted as a competing endogenous RNA by sponging miR-17-5p, which targeted and inhibited PANX1/MAPK/ERK expression. MiR-17-5p overexpression mitigated glioma progression, which was significantly inhibited with Circ-TLK1 upregulation. In conclusion, this study confirmed a novel axis of Circ-TLK1-miR-17-5p-PANX1 in modulating glioma development, providing more references for glioma diagnosis and targeted therapy.