@Article{biocell.2022.016726,
AUTHOR = {LEI FU, JINGWEN JIANG, XUEWU CHEN, FENGTING ZHU, HUI ZHANG},
TITLE = {Downregulation of hsa_circ_0002198 inhibits keloid fibroblast activities <i>in vitro</i> by reducing NLRP3 inflammasome activity},
JOURNAL = {BIOCELL},
VOLUME = {46},
YEAR = {2022},
NUMBER = {5},
PAGES = {1289--1297},
URL = {http://www.techscience.com/biocell/v46n5/46179},
ISSN = {1667-5746},
ABSTRACT = {The levels of hsa circular RNA_0002198 (hsa_circ_0002198) have been found to be significantly upregulated in keloid dermal fibroblasts. However, the functional role of hsa_circ_0002198 in keloid fibroblasts and the underlying molecular mechanism for its effects have not been reported. In this study, the levels of hsa_circ_0002198 and nucleotide-binding and oligomerization domain, leucine rich repeat and pyrin domain containing 3 (NLRP3) expression in keloid scar tissues and adjacent normal skin tissues were determined by quantitative real-time PCR and western blotting, respectively. <i>In vitro</i> models of keloid tissue were created by culturing primary keloid fibroblasts obtained from patients. A series of functional experiments, including CCK-8 assays, Transwell assays, and ELISA assays were performed to analyze the functional role of hsa_circ_0002198/NLRP3. Our data showed that hsa_circ_0002198 and NLRP3 were upregulated in keloid scar tissues when compared with adjacent normal tissues. Knockdown of hsa_circ_0002198 expression significantly suppressed cell proliferation, migration, and invasion, and those effects could be partially reversed by forced NLRP3 overexpression in keloid fibroblasts. At the molecular level, knockdown of hsa_circ_0002198 downregulated the levels of Col I, α-SMA, and NLRP3 proteins, as well as the levels of TGF-β, IL-1ß, and IL-33, but upregulated caspase 3 expression in keloid fibroblasts. All those effects were partially reversed after NLRP3 overexpression. In conclusion, our results suggest hsa_circ_0002198 as a potential target for treating keloid lesions.},
DOI = {10.32604/biocell.2022.016726}
}