Circular RNAs (circRNAs) play important roles in the malignant progression of tumours. Herein, we identified an unreported circRNA (hsa-circ-0072688, also named circADAMTS6) that is specifically upregulated in the hypoxic microenvironment of glioblastoma and closely correlated with poor prognosis of gliblastoma patients. We found that circADAMTS6 promotes the malignant progression of glioblastoma by promoting cell proliferation and inhibiting apoptosis. Mechanistically, the hypoxic tumour microenvironment upregulates circADAMTS6 expression through transcription factor activator protein 1 (AP-1) and RNA-binding protein TAR DNA-binding protein 43 (TDP43). Moreover, circADAMTS6 accelerates glioblastoma progression by recruiting and stabilising annexin A2 (ANXA2) in a proteasomes-dependent manner. Furthermore, we found T-5224 (AP-1 inhibitor) treatment induces downregulation of circADAMTS6 and then inhibits tumour growth. In conclusion, our findings highlight the important role of the circADAMTS6/ANXA2 axis based on hypoxic microenvironment in glioblastoma progression, as well as its regulation in NF-κB pathway. Targeting circADAMTS6 is thus expected to become a novel therapeutic strategy for glioblastoma.
© 2022. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Limited.