Circ_0003204 downregulation protected vascular smooth muscle cells from ox-LDL-induced injury by acting on miR-637/FOSL2 axis

Background Atherosclerosis (AS) was the main cause of serious cardiovascular diseases, which seriously endangered human health. Studies have shown that circRNA plays an important regulatory role in the development of atherosclerosis. Objective This study aimed to investigate the molecular mechanism of circular RNA (circRNA) circ_0003204 in the development of atherosclerosis. Results The expression levels of circ_0003204 and FOSL2 were significantly increased in atherosclerosis samples and ox-LDL-induced VSMCs, while the expression level of miR-637 was significantly decreased. In ox-LDL-induced VSMCs cells, knockdown of circ_0003204 or miR-637 overexpression could significantly inhibit cell proliferation, migration and invasion. Moreover, miR-637 was the target miRNA of circ_0003204 and directly targeted FOSL2. Overexpression of FOSL2 could rescue the effect of si-circ_0003204 on the phenotypic changes in ox-LDL-induced VSMCs. Conclusion In short, circ_0003204 was significantly upregulated in atherosclerotic samples, knockdown of circ_0003204 could inhibit ox-LDL-induced VSMCs injury by miR-637/FOSL2 axis, which might be an effective therapeutic target for AS.