ABSTRACT circRNAs are endogenous covalently closed circular RNAs, and previous studies have validated their key regulatory roles in malignant tumors; however, the specific role and regulatory mechanism of circNEK11 in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) remain unclear. Here, we discovered that circNEK11 back‐spliced from exons 12, 13, 14, and 15 of the NEK11 gene is significantly upregulated in HCC tissues, especially recurrent HCC tissues. YTHDC1 functions as a reader of m6A‐modified circNEK11 and facilitates its cytoplasmic export. circNEK11 promotes HCC cell oncogenic functions in vitro and HCC growth in vivo. Mechanistically, circNEK11 directly binds to miR‐1236‐3p to regulate GPX2 expression, thus promoting HCC progression and recurrence. Collectively, our findings suggest that circNEK11 is a potential biomarker and target for HCC diagnosis and treatment.
Li et al. (Wed,) studied this question.