Overexpression of circ-FOXO3 suppressed cell growth, migration and invasion through sponging miR-23 in esophageal squamous cell cancer (Xing et al., 2020), while circ-FOXO3 relieved blood-brain barrier by sequestering mTOR and E2F1 in ischemia/reperfusion injury (Yang Z. G. et al., 2022). The gene discussed is FOXO3; the disease is esophageal squamous cell carcinoma.