CircASH1L-mediated tumor progression in triple-negative breast cancer: PI3K/AKT pathway mechanisms

Objective To investigate the impact of circASH1L on subcutaneous tumor growth in nude mice with triple-negative breast cancer via the PI3K/AKT pathway. Methods The study was conducted using bioinformatics and animal experimental verification methods. circASH1L levels in triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) were analyzed using a dataset from the gene expression omnibus database. In the animal experiment part, nude mice were divided into shNC group, shcircASH1L-1 group, Oe-NC group, and Oe-circASH1L group. Each group was treated with corresponding circASH1L overexpression or knockdown and transplanted tumor modeling. Immunohistochemistry and western blot experiments were used to verify the effect of circASH1L on the growth of nude mouse transplanted tumors and the PI3K/AKT pathway. Results A total of 43 circRNAs were significantly associated with TNBC, among which circASH1L was significantly highly expressed in TNBC. circASH1L-1 negatively regulates tumor volume, mass, expression rate of Ki67 cells, and PI3K/AKT pathway marker proteins. Conclusions CircASH1L is a tumor promoter in TNBC. The expression level of circASH1L influences both the proliferation of TNBC cells and the growth of TNBC nude mice tumors by modulating the PI3K/AKT pathway.