Rolling-Translated circRUNX2.2 Promotes Lymphoma Cell Proliferation and Cycle Transition in Marek’s Disease Model

Marek's disease (MD), an immunosuppressive disease induced by the Marek's disease virus (MDV), is regarded as an ideal model for lymphoma research to elucidate oncogenic and anti-oncogene genes. Using this model, we found that circRUNX2.2, derived from exon 6 of RUNX2, was significantly upregulated in MDV-infected tumorous spleens. In this study, we deeply analyzed the potential role of circRUNX2.2 in lymphoma cells. An open reading frame (ORF) in circRUNX2.2 with no stop codon was predicted, and small peptides (named circRUNX2.2-rt) presenting multiple ladder-like bands with different molecular weights encoded by circRUNX2.2 were detected via Western blotting assay. The polysome fraction assay reconfirmed the translation ability of circRUNX2.2, which could be detected in polysome fractions. Subsequent analysis verified that it translated in a rolling circle manner, rather than being assisted by the internal ribosome entry site (IRES) or m6A-mediated mechanism. Furthermore, we found that circRUNX2.2-rt was potently induced in MSB1 cells treated with sodium butyrate (NaB), which reactivated MDV and forced the MDV transition from the latent to reactivation phase. During this phase, MDV particles were clearly observed by electron microscopy, and the viral gene pp38 was also significantly upregulated. A biological function study showed that circRUNX2.2-rt promoted cell proliferation and cell cycle transition from the S to G2 phase and inhibited the apoptosis of MSB1. Further immunoprecipitation and mass spectrometry assays showed that 168 proteins potentially interacting with circRUNX2.2-rt were involved in multiple pathways related to cell cycle regulation, which proved that circRUNX2.2-rt could bind or recruit proteins to mediate the cell cycle.