Hsa_circ_0064636 regulates voltage dependent anion channel 1/ubiquitination factor E4A through miR‑326/miR‑503‑5 in osteosarcoma

Circular RNAs (circRNAs) are a subclass of non‑coding RNAs that are important for the regulation of gene expression in eukaryotic organisms. CircRNAs exert various regulatory roles in cancer progression. However, the role of hsa_circ_0064636 in osteosarcoma (OS) remains poorly understood. In the present study, the expression of hsa_circ_0064636 in OS cell lines was measured by reverse transcription‑quantitative PCR (RT‑qPCR). Differentially expressed mRNAs and microRNAs (miRNA or miRs) were screened using mRNA(GSE16088) and miRNA(GSE65071) expression datasets for OS. miRNAs that can potentially interact with hsa_circ_0064636 were predicted using RNAhybrid, TargetScan and miRanda. Subsequently, RNAhybrid, TargetScan, miRanda, miRWalk, miRMap and miRNAMap were used for target gene prediction based on the overlapping miRNAs to construct a circ/miRNA/mRNA interaction network. Target genes were subjected to survival analysis using PROGgeneV2, resulting in a circRNA/miRNA/mRNA interaction sub‑network with prognostic significance. miRNA and circRNA in the subnetwork may also have survival significance, but relevant data are lacking and needs to be further proved.RT‑qPCR demonstrated that hsa_circ_0064636 expression was significantly increased in OS cell lines. miR‑326 and miR‑503‑5p were identified to be target miRNAs of hsa_circ_0064636. Among the target genes obtained from the miR‑326 and miR‑503‑5p screens, ubiquitination factor E4A (UBE4A) and voltage dependent anion channel 1 (VDAC1) were respectively identified to significantly affect prognosis; only miR‑326 targets UBE4A and only miR‑503 targets VDAC1. To conclude, these aforementioned findings suggest that hsa_circ_0064636 may be involved in the development of OS by sponging miR‑503‑5p and miR‑326to inhibit their effects, thereby regulating the expression of VDAC1 and UBE4A.