Circ-ABCB10 promotes growth and metastasis of nasopharyngeal carcinoma by upregulating ROCK1

Objective Nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) is one of the most ordinary head and neck tumors. This study aims to uncover the role of circ-ABCB10 functions in the progression of NPC. Patients and methods The circ-ABCB10 expression was detected in paired NPC patients' tissue samples and cell lines. The role of circ-ABCB10 in NPC proliferation was identified through proliferation assay, Ethynyl deoxyuridine (EdU) assay and colony formation assay. Next, the role of circ-ABCB10 in NPC metastasis was measured through wound healing assay and transwell assay. Finally, the underlying mechanism was further uncovered through Western blot assay and real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR). Results It was found that circ-ABCB10 expression was significantly higher in NPC tissues than that in adjacent samples. In addition, cell proliferation, migration and invasion of NPC were promoted through overexpression of circ-ABCB10 in vitro. Results of further experiments revealed that ROCK1 was upregulated via overexpression of circ-ABCB10 in NPC. Conclusions This study indicated that circ-ABCB10 promoted NPC cell proliferation and metastasis via upregulating ROCK1 in vitro.