Open Access

ARTICLE

miR-181b promotes the oncogenesis of renal cell carcinoma by targeting TIMP3

YUHUA ZOU^1,#, LEI ZHANG^2,#, XIN ZHONG^3,*

1 Department of Urology, First Affiliated Hospital of Gannan Medical University, Ganzhou, 341000, China
2 Department of Urology, The First People’s Hospital of Xiangtan City, Xiangtan, 411101, China
3 Department of General Surgery, Shenzhen SAMII Medical Center, Shenzhen, 518118, China

* Address correspondence to: Xin Zhong,
# These authors contributed equally to this work

(This article belongs to the Special Issue: Noncoding RNAs & Associated Human Diseases)

BIOCELL 2022, 46(5), 1309-1317. https://doi.org/10.32604/biocell.2022.018167

Received 04 June 2021; Accepted 22 September 2021; Issue published 06 January 2022

Abstract

Renal cell carcinoma (RCC) has a poor prognosis due to limited diagnosis and treatment. Thus, it is necessary to find novel prognostic biomarkers and therapeutic targets. The aberrant expression of microRNAs plays an important role in RCC oncogenesis. Tissue inhibitors of metalloproteinase 3 (TIMP3) acts as a downstream target of miR-181b. The aim of this study was to understand the role and molecular mechanism of miR-181b in RCC oncogenesis. The results showed that miR-181b expression was significantly higher in RCC tumour tissues, especially in those with significant invasion or metastasis. miR-181b overexpression promoted proliferation and migration of the RCC cell line 786-O, while miR-181b knockdown had the opposite effect. In addition, miR-181b was inversely correlated with TIMP3 expression in RCC tumour tissues. miR-181b overexpression reduced TIMP3 expression in RCC cell line 786-O or OS-RC-2, while miR-181b knockdown had the inverse effect. Mechanistically, a luciferase reporter assay confirmed the binding sites of miR-181b on the 3’-UTR of TIMP3, confirming the targeting effect of miR-181b on TIMP3. Overall, miR-181b promotes the development and progression of RCC by targeting TIMP3 expression, indicating the potential use of miR-181b in the diagnosis and treatment of RCC.

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Keywords

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