Background/aim: Gastric cancer (GC) is one of the major causes of cancer mortality worldwide. As a novel type of endogenous
noncoding RNAs, circular RNAs (circRNAs) are formed by a covalent link between 5’ and 3’ ends. They are very stable and abundant
in eukaryotes. As there were no reported studies on the expression profiles of circular RNA ITCH (cir-ITCH) and circHIPK3 in GC, in
the current study, we aimed to delineate the expression profiles and clinicopathological relevance of these two circRNAs in GC tissues
compared to their paired adjacent noncancerous tissues.
Materials and methods: Quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction was performed to evaluate cir_ITCH and circHIPK3
expression in 30 paired gastric cancer tissues. The clinicopathological relevance of these two circular RNAs’ expression levels with
gastric cancer was further examined.
Results: Our results showed that the expression of cir_ITCH and circHIPK3 were significantly downregulated in GC tumoral tissues
compared with their paired adjacent nonneoplastic counterparts. Further analyses showed that cir_ITCH and circHIPK3 expression
levels were related with numerous clinicopathological features of tumoral tissues.
Conclusion: Cir_ITCH and circHIPK3 may have imperative roles in GC and serve in the future as potential prognostic biomarkers in GC.
Key words: Gastric cancer, circular RNAs, cir_ITCH, circHIPK3, gene expressio
