Overexpressed circPVT1, a potential new circular RNA biomarker, contributes to doxorubicin and cisplatin resistance of osteosarcoma cells by regulating ABCB1.

Circular RNAs (circRNAs) represent a widespread class of non-coding RNAs generated from back-splicing, with a circular loop structure. Many circRNAs have been reported to play essential roles in cancer development and have the potential to serve as a novel class of biomarkers for clinical diagnosis. However, the role of circRNA in osteosarcoma (OS) remains largely unknown. In the current study, we examined the expression level of circular RNA PVT1 (circPVT1), previously screened and identified the oncogenic role in gastric cancer, in OS and found that circPVT1 was significantly up-regulated in the OS tissues, serums and chemoresistant cell lines, correlated with poor prognosis of OS patients. Besides, ROC curve demonstrated that circPVT1 may be a better diagnostic biomarker than alkaline phosphatase (ALP) in OS with more sensitivity and specificity. In addition, functional assays revealed that circPVT1 knockdown by siRNA could weaken the resistance to doxorubicin and cisplatin of OS cells through decreasing the expression of classical drug resistance-related gene ABCB1. These findings may provide a new insight into the role of circPVT1 as a biomarker for the diagnosis and treatment target of OS.