The importance of regulatory pathway mediated by Circ0001955 in colorectal cancer

Introduction: Colorectal cancer (CRC) has become one of the most common cancers in recent years. Given the importance that non-coding RNAs have recently acquired in various diseases including cancers, we decided to design this study to evaluate the expression levels of circ0001955/miR-145-5p/ONECUT2 axis in CRC. Methods: After bioinformatics analysis of GEO datasets related to CRC, a putative circ0001955/miR-145-5p/ONECUT2 pathway was assumed. Then, the expression levels of these genes were measured in 50 CRC samples and adjacent tissues by qRT-PCR. Also, correlation coefficients, receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves, and correlation between circ0001955 levels with clinicopathological parameters of patients were analyzed. Results: Circ0001955 and ONECUT2 were considerably up-regulated, while the expression level of miR-145-5p was decreased in CRC samples compared with adjacent tissues (p < 0.05). Moreover, statistically significant correlations were observed between expression levels of circ0001955, miR-145-5p, and ONECUT2. We did not find any significant correlation between circ0001955 expression and clinicopathological parameters. Conclusion: Our study showed that circ0001955 is dysregulated in CRC. This finding can open a new window for researchers for a better understanding of the potential pathways involved in CRC pathogenesis and, consequently, to find new treatment pathways.