Study on the Mechanism of circGFRA1 Targeting miR-642a-5p to Regulate the Proliferation, Migration and Invasion of Rheumatoid Arthritis Synovial Fibroblasts

This study investigated the effect of circGFRA1 on the proliferation, migration and invasion

of RA (rheumatoid arthritis) SFs (synovial fibroblasts) and its possible mechanism. The synovial tissues of 39 RA patients and 39 patients who have knee joint trauma and have no other joint abnormalities were collected. The expression of circGFRA1 and miR-642a-5p in the tissues were detected by qRT-PCR. RASFs were isolated and cultured in vitro. After RASFs were transfected with circGFRA1 small interfering RNA or miR-642a-5p mimic, or co-transfected with circGFRA1 small interfering RNA and miR-642a-5p inhibitor, CCK-8 method, scratch test,and Transwell chamber detected cell proliferation, migration and invasion. And the expression of Ki-67, E-cadherin and N-cadherin protein in the cells was detected by Western blot. The dual luciferase reporter gene experiment verified the regulatory relationship between circGFRA1 and miR-642a-5p. The results showed that the expression of circGFRA1 in the synovial tissues of RA patients was significantly higher than that in normal synovial tissues

(P<0.05), but the expression of miR-642a-5p was significantly lower than that in normal synovial tissues (P<0.05). After down-regulating circGFRA1 or up-regulating miR-642a-5p, the D value, scratch healing rate, invasion number of RASFs, the protein expression of Ki-67 and N-cadherin in cells were all decreased (P<0.05), but the protein expression of E-cadherin was increased (P<0.05). circGFRA1 could target and negatively regulate miR-642a-5p inRASFs. Down-regulating miR-642a-5p reversed the effect of down-regulating circGFRA1 on the proliferation, migration and invasion of RASFs. Taken together, circGFRA1 may promote the proliferation, migration and invasion of rheumatoid arthritis cells by targeting and negatively regulating miR-642a-5p.

CSTR: 32200.14.cjcb.2022.07.0006