Circular RNA circCD44 targets methyltransferase-like 3/homeobox containing 1 to facilitate esophageal squamous cell carcinoma progression.

Esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) is a prevalent gastrointestinal malignancy with unclear functional mechanisms of circular RNAs. This study focused on investigating the role of circCD44 in ESCC progression. The expression of circCD44 and homeobox containing 1 (HMBOX1) was found to be elevated in ESCC cell lines. The overexpression of circCD44 or HMBOX1 enhanced proliferation and invasion, while inhibiting apoptosis in ESCC cells, whereas knockdown of these genes had inverse effects. METTL3 was observed to bind to circCD44 and HMBOX1 mRNA, promoting m(6)A modification in HMBOX1 mRNA and subsequent HMBOX1 protein expression. Knockdown of METTL3 or HMBOX1 attenuated the oncogenic effects of circCD44 overexpression both in vitro and in vivo. These findings suggest that circCD44 promotes ESCC progression by facilitating HMBOX1 mRNA m(6)A modification and protein expression through METTL3 binding, providing insights into the molecular mechanisms underlying ESCC pathogenesis.