Figure 6.

Schematic diagram of the molecular mechanism of circRNF13 in NPC.circRNF13 can directly bind to the 3 ‘- UTR region of Small Ubiquitin-like Modifier 2 (SUMO2), improving SUMO2 mRNA stability. SUMO2 overexpression could downregulate and promote the ubiquitination degradation of Glucose Transporter 1 (GLUT1), thus inhibiting the glycolysis of NPC cells. Glycolysis inhibition induces the activation and phosphorylation of the intracellular AMPK pathway. Subsequently, the activated AMPK pathway blocks protein synthesis and translation by suppressing the mTOR signaling pathway, thus inhibiting tumor growth and metastasis.