Fig 1: circNSUN2 upregulates ROCK2 expression through inhibition of miR-181a-5p. (A) Expression of ROCK2 in a normal colonic epithelial cell line (NCM460) and CRC cell lines (HCT116 and T84) was measured by western blotting. *P<0.05. (B) Expression of ROCK2 in CRC tissues was measured by western blotting. N, normal tissue; C, cancerous tissue. *P<0.05. (C) Expression of miR-181a-5p was detected by qPCR. **P<0.01, ***P<0.001. (D) Expression of ROCK2 in transfected HCT116 and T84 cells was assessed by western blotting. *P<0.05 and **P<0.01. (E) Expression of ROCK2 in transfected HCT116 and T84 cells was assessed by western blotting. ***P<0.001. (F) Proliferation of HCT116 and T84 cells was measured by CCK-8 assay. *P<0.05. (G) Migration of HCT116 and T84 cells was assessed by Transwell assay. **P<0.01 and ***P<0.001. (H) Apoptosis of HCT116 and T84 cells was assessed by flow cytometry. **P<0.01. (I) Apoptosis of HCT116 and T84 cells was assessed by western blotting. *P<0.05 and **P<0.01. Data are expressed as the mean ± SD (n=3 biological replicates). Statistical significance was calculated by one-way ANOVA with Tukey's post hoc test for multiple comparisons in A and D. For all other parts, *P<0.05 and **P<0.01 and ***P<0.001 were obtained using two-tailed unpaired Student's t-test. circNSUN2, circRNA NOP2/Sun domain family, member 2; ROCK2, Rho-associated coiled-coil-containing protein kinase 2; CRC, colorectal cancer; CCK-8, Cell Counting Kit-8; miR-181a-5p, microRNA-181a-5p; si-, small interfering; si-con, si-control.