Fig. 6

Schematic illustration the relevance among circ-IARS, miR-122, ZO-1, and RhoA expression. Circ-IARS competitively adsorbed miR-122, inhibited its expression and relieved its inhibition of downstream target gene RhoA activity, increased the activity of RhoA, increased the expression of F-actin, and promoted cell contraction. In addition, the increase of RhoA activity reduced the expression of ZO-1 and disrupted the tight junction between the endothelium, which eventually led to the increase of vascular endothelial permeability and promotes tumor metastasis