Fig. 4: CircCNOT6L regulates SRSF2 by competitive adsorption of miR-143-5p and promotes malignant progression of PCa.

a–c Intracellular distribution of circCNOT6L was detected by RNA fluorescence in situ hybridization and nuclear-plasma extraction assay. d Wayne plots showing downstream miRNAs predicted by mirDIP in conjunction with the CircBank database. e Box plots showing differential expression of six miRNAs in normal versus tumor samples. f RT–qPCR showing changes in miR-143-5p expression after altering circCNOT6L expression in PC3 and LNcap cell lines. g, h Dual luciferase reporter gene plasmid designed to detect binding of circCNOT6L to miR-143-5p. i Wayne plot showing miRDB, miRWalk, Targetscan and RNA22 combined with mRNAs predicted downstream by the TGCA database. j Co expression analysis based on the TCGA-PRAD cohort showed correlation of the screened genes with miR-143-5p. k, l Dual luciferase reporter gene plasmid designed to detect binding of SRSF2 to miR-143-5p. m Western blot demonstrating the correlation between circCNOT6L, miR-143-5p and SRSF2. n Three-dimensional structure prediction demonstrates the binding pattern of circCNOT6L to miR-143-5p. o Three-dimensional structure prediction demonstrates the binding pattern of miR-143-5p to SRSF2. p, q IHC results from patients with PCa demonstrated differential expression of SRSF2 between normal and tumor sample (p) and demonstrated differential expression of SRSF2 in tissues from patients with high-risk (Gleason score of >7) and low-risk (Gleason score of <7) samples (q). r The IHC results of lung metastasis in nude mice demonstrate a correlation between circCNOT6L and SRSF2. ^*P < 0.05, ^**P < 0.01, ^***P < 0.001.