CircVAMP3: A circRNA with a role in alveolar rhabdomyosarcoma cell cycle progression

Abstract: Circular RNAs (circRNAs), a class of covalently closed RNAs formed by a back-splicing reaction, have been involved in the regulation of diverse oncogenic processes. In this article we describe circVAMP3, a novel circular RNA overexpressed in RH4, a representative cell line of alveolar rhabdomyosarcoma. We demonstrated that circVAMP3 has a differential m6A pattern opposed to its linear counterpart, suggesting that the two isoforms can be differently regulated by such RNA modification. Moreover, we show how circVAMP3 depletion in alveolar rhabdomyosarcoma cells can impair cell cycle progression, through the alteration of the AKT-related pathways, pointing to this non-coding RNA as a novel regulator of the alveolar rhabdomyosarcoma progression and as a putative future therapeutic target.