Fig. 2

Elevated circHMGCS1–016 promotes ICC progression. A. The expression of circHMGCS1–016 in ICC cells was detected by qRT-PCR; Data are representative of 3 independent tests; B. The efficacy of circHMGCS1–016 overexpression in RBE cells was analyzed by qRT-PCR; Data are representative of 3 independent tests (***p < 0.001); C. The efficacy of circHMGCS1–016 interference in QBC939 cells was analyzed by qRT-PCR; Data are representative of 3 independent tests (* p < 0.05, *** p < 0.001); D. The circHMGCS1–016 interference in QBC939 did not influence the HMGCS1 mRNA expression; Data are representative of 3 independent tests (n.s. p > 0.05); E and F. Invasion assay was used to detect the invasion ability of ICC cells with different circHMGCS1–016 level (Bar = 200 μm); Data are representative of 3 independent tests (**p < 0.01); G. CCK-8 assay showed that the circHMGCS1–016 is positively associated with the proliferation ability of ICC cells; Data are representative of 3 independent tests (** p < 0.01); H. The ability of colony formation was stronger in ICC cells with higher level of circHMGCS1–016. Data are representative of 3 independent tests (***p < 0.001); I. Representative bioluminescence images of subcutaneous xenotransplanted tumors in mice at day 42 after inoculation with ICC cells. The color scale bar depicts the photon flux emitted from the mice (n = 6). J. Tumorigenesis of RBE-control, RBE-circHMGCS1–016, QBC939-NC and QBC939- circHMGCS1–016 cells in nude mice, and the tumor burden of RBE-circHMGCS1–016 and QBC939-NC cells were larger than those of their control groups; and pulmonary metastasis was found in mice implanted ICC cells expressing high level of circHMGCS1–016 (*** p < 0.001)