Fig. 6

Schematic summary of the predicted role of circZNF800 in regulating cancer stem cell properties via multiple miRNA-mRNA axes in CRC tumorigenesis. The up- (green) and downward (red)-pointing thick arrows indicate up- and down-regulated expression, respectively, of the indicated parameters demonstrated in this work. Briefly, circZNF800 in late-stage CRC or CRC-derived spheroidal cells suppresses miR-140-3p, miR-382-5p and miR-579-3p to up-regulate expression of ALK7, FZD3 and WNT5A (in grey boxes). On the other hand, circZNF800 up-regulates the expression of cancer stem cell markers (in white boxes) and various cellular processes (green boxes) leading to enhanced stemness properties of CRC cells in the tumorigenesis process. The dashed-line arrow indicates the predicted connection of the circZNF800-miRNA-mRNA axes with the affected downstream cellular events