circRNA‐14723 promotes hepatocytes proliferation in rat liver regeneration by sponging rno‐miR‐16‐5p

Abstract Circular RNA (circRNA) is a subclass of noncoding RNA (ncRNA) detected within mammalian tissues and cells. However, its regulatory role during the proliferation phase of rat liver regeneration (LR) remains unreported. This study was designed to explore their regulatory mechanisms in cell proliferation of LR. The circRNA expression profile was detected by high‐throughput sequencing. It was indicated that 260 circRNAs were differentially expressed during the proliferation phase of rat LR. Among them, circ‐14723 displayed a significantly differential expression. We further explored its regulatory mechanism in rat hepatocytes (BRL‐3A cells). First, EdU, flow cytometry and western blot (WB) indicated that knocking down circ‐14723 inhibited BRL‐3A cells proliferation. Second, RNA‐Pulldown and dual‐luciferase report assay showed that circ‐14723 could sponge rno‐miR‐16‐5p. At last, WB showed that the reported target genes of rno‐miR‐16‐5p, CCND1, and CCNE1 were downregulated after knocking down circ‐14723. In conclusion, we found that circ‐14723 exerted a critical role in G1/S arrest to promote cell proliferation via rno‐miR‐16‐5p/CCND1 and CCNE1 axis in rat LR. This finding further revealed the regulatory mechanisms of circRNA on cell proliferation of LR, and might provide a potential target for clinical problems.