Figure 5.

circHIPK3 promotes proliferation and metastasis via modulation of the miR-637/HDAC4 axis in osteosarcoma. Metastatic and proliferation abilities of (A) HOS and (B) U2OS cells were investigated using Transwell and Cell Counting Kit 8 assays. Magnification, ×20; scale bar, 200 µm. (C) HDAC4 protein expression after different circHIPK3 and miR-637 interventions was investigated by western blotting. **P<0.01. (D) Knockdown of circHIPK3 suppressed HDAC4 protein expression, while the suppressive effect was abolished by a further downregulation of miR-637, as determined by a western blotting assay. **P<0.01. All data are presented as the mean ± SD of three independent experiments. circ, circular RNA; HDAC4, histone deacetylase 4; HIPK3, homeodomain interacting protein kinase 3; miR-637, microRNA-637; NC, negative control; OD, optical density; n.s, not significant (P>0.05); siRNA, small interfering RNA.