Abstract:Objective To investigate the effect of onychin (ONY) on glycolysis, proliferation, migration and invasion of lung cancer A549 cells and its mechanism.Methods A549 cells were cultured in vitro. After treated with different concentrations of ONY (5, 10, 20 μg·mL-1) for 24 h, A549 cells were transfected with circ_0136666 small interfering RNA. The A549 cells transfected with circ_0136666 over-expression vector were treated with 20 μg·mL-1 ONY. The enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay was used to detect the glucose level in cells and the lactic acid content in the cell culture supernatant. CCK-8 was used to detect the cell proliferation, and Transwell was used to detect the cell migration and invasion. The protein expression levels of Ki-67, MMP-2 and MMP-9 were detected by Western blotting, and the expression levels of circ_0136666 and miR-370 were detected by RT-qPCR. The regulatory relationship between circ_0136666 and miR-370 in A549 cells was verified by the dual luciferase reporter gene assay.Results After A549 cells were interfered with 5, 10, 20 μg·mL-1 ONY, the glucose consumption and lactic acid production of the cells, were significantly reduced, as well as the number of migration and invasion cells, the protein expression levels of Ki-67, MMP-2 and MMP-9, and the expression level of circ_0136666 (P<0.05), while the cell inhibition rate and the expression level of miR-370 were significantly increased (P<0.05), and all were dose-dependent. The circ_0136666 negatively regulated the expression of miR-370. After silencing circ_0136666, the glucose consumption and lactic acid production of the cells, the number of migration and invasion cells, and the protein expression levels of Ki-67, MMP-2 and MMP-9 all were reduced (P<0.05), while the cell inhibition rate was increased (P<0.05). Overexpression of circ_0136666 partially restored the inhibitory effect of ONY on glycolysis, proliferation, migration and invasion of A549 cells.Conclusion ONY could inhibit the glycolysis, proliferation, migration and invasion of lung cancer cell A549, and its mechanism of action may be related to the regulation of circ_0136666/miR-370 pathway.