Fig. 7

The anti-metastatic effect of circZNF609 is mediated by RAC1. a and b Kaplan-Meier curves of acral melanoma patients from Liang’s cohort through the cBioPortal database stratified by RAC1 expression for OS (a) or DFS (b). c Kaplan-Meier curves of acral melanoma patients from Beijing Cancer Hospital & Institute stratified by RAC1 expression for OS (n = 53). d and e The association (d) and correlation (e) between RAC1 mRNA expression and copy-number values from cutaneous melanoma patients through the TCGA database. f and g Kaplan-Meier curves of cutaneous melanoma patients from TCGA database stratified by RAC1 expression for OS (f) or DFS (g). h and i Top, enhanced cell migration and invasion in circZNF609 knockdown HMY-1 cells (h) and A875 cells (i) was abolished by silencing of RAC1. Bottom, left, the induction of enhanced expression of RAC1 elicited by circZNF609 depletion was abolished by silencing of RAC1. Bottom, right, statistical analysis of Transwell assays. j Enhanced cell invasion in circZNF609 knockdown LM-MEL-45 cells was abolished by silencing of RAC1 in 3D spheroid-based Matrigel invasion assay. k Representative bioluminescent images (left) and quantification (right) of lung metastatic colonization of nude mice treated with tail-vein injection of firefly luciferase-expressing RAC1-knockdown A2058 cells or control A2058 cells