Circ-DONSON promotes malignant progression of glioma through modulating FOXO3
Authors: J-M Liu
Z-H Zhao
Z Zou
Y-S Dong
D-D Liu
G Li
Journal: European review for medical and pharmacological sciences (2020)
Discipline: PHARMACOLOGY & TOXICOLOGY
Keywords: circ-DONSON; glioma; metastasis; qRT-PCR; FOXO3
Affiliations: General Hospital of Northern Theater Command Base, Jinzhou Medical University, Jinzhou, China. .

Abstract:  Objective: The aim of this study was to investigate the expression level of circ-DONSON in glioma and to explore its effect on glioma metastasis and the underlying mechanism. Patients and methods: Quantitative Real Time-Polymerase Chain Reaction (qRT-PCR) was performed to examine circ-DONSON expression in 40 paired glioma tumor tissues and adjacent tissues. Meanwhile, the relation between circ-DONSON level and clinical parameters of glioma and the prognosis of patients was analyzed. The expression of circ-DONSON in glioma cell lines was analyzed by qRT-PCR as well. In addition, circs-DONSON silencing model was constructed in glioma cell lines. Cell counting kit-8 (CCK-8), cell scratch, and transwell migration assays were performed to investigate the effect of circ-DONSON on biological functions of glioma cells. Finally, the interplay between FOXO3 and circ-DONSON was explored. Results: QRT-PCR results revealed that the expression level of circ-DONSON in glioma tumor tissues was remarkably higher than that of adjacent tissues, and the difference was statistically significant (p&lt;0.05). Compared with patients with low expression of circ-DONSON, significantly higher prevalence of lymph node or distant metastasis and worse prognosis were observed in patients with high expression of circ-DONSON (p&lt;0.05). The proliferation and migration abilities of glioma cells in circ-DONSON silenced group were remarkably suppressed when compared with NC group (p&lt;0.05). Additionally, FOXO3 expression was remarkably down-regulated in glioma cell lines and tissues. FOXO3 expression was negatively correlated with circ-DONSON expression. In addition, cell reverse experiment demonstrated that circ-DONSON and FOXO3 can regulate each other, thereby together affecting the malignant progression of glioma. Conclusions: Circ-DONSON was remarkably associated with lymph node or distant metastasis, as well as poor prognosis of patients with glioma. Furthermore, it promoted the metastasis of glioma cells via regulating FOXO3. 

Retracted: No

PubPeer comments:
 We are working on Alton water, Suffolk UK off and of since late 1980s and most recently from 2016-2019 and we came across this paper and were very surprised by these data - so we looked into the ground truth data these authors say they used and spoke to the site manager and the company responsible for Alton reservoir. All were unaware of any relationship with these authors or institution. We call into question the legitimacy of the ground truth data in this paper. It gets worse - we then look at the plagiarised figures in the manuscript that do not cite the original source in the figure legend or say it is reproduced with permission. And see the very very high congruence between the estimates and the  ground truth data - we think this paper needs investigated , 
 [Moderator: commenter should check the  no hearsay rule in our FAQ] ,