Circular RNA (CirRNA) is a type of noncoding RNA that has been shown to play a unique role in tumor development and other fields in recent years. In this study, we aimed to explore the biological role of hsa_circ_100290 in acute myeloid leukemia (AML). First, we found that the expression of hsa_circ_100290 was increased in human AML samples and cell lines. Down-regulation of hsa_circ_100290 significantly suppressed cell proliferation of AML cells. Silencing hsa_circ_100290 also dramatically induced cell cycle arrest and apoptosis. Bioinformatic prediction and luciferase assay revealed that hsa_circ_100290 and Rab10 were targeted by miR-203. Validation experiments verified that hsa_circ_100290 was co-expressed with Rab10 and was negatively correlated with miR-203 expression. Moreover, rescue experiments demonstrated that miR-203 inhibitor could reverse the role of hsa_circ_100290 knockdown on proliferation and apoptosis in AML cells. Overall, the present study identifies the crucial regulation of hsa_circ_100290 in AML cell proliferation and apoptosis via targeting the miR-203/Rab10 axis.