Background: Although miR-758-3p has been reported to be associated with multiple cancers, including hepatocellular carcinoma, bladder cancer, gastric cancer and papillary thyroid cancer, its role in clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC) remains unclear.
Methods: The expression levels of miR-758-3p in ccRCC tissues and cell lines were examined using qRT-PCR. Survival analysis was performed using Kaplan–Meier, while the prognostic significance of miR-758-3p was evaluated by Cox regression analysis. The effects of miR-758-3p on cell proliferation, migration and invasion were analyzed with CCK-8, crystal violet and transwell assays. Luciferase reporter assays were performed to determine the effect of miR-758-3p on MDM2. Western blot was applied to measure the expression of MDM2.
Results: The expression levels of miR-758-3p were down-regulated in human ccRCC tissues and cell lines. Moreover, the expression of miR-758-3p was closely associated with histological grade, TNM stage and vascular invasion. High expression of miR-758-3p was found to be capable of predicting favorable clinical prognosis in ccRCC patients. Additionally, whilst the proliferation, migration and invasion of ccRCC cells were inhibited upon overexpression of miR-758-3p, the effects were reversed upon miR-758-3p knockdown. Moreover, miR-758-3p was a modulator of MDM2 in ccRCC.
Conclusion: This study demonstrated that miR-758-3p is a potential prognostic biomarker for ccRCC patients. Data from this study showed that miR-758-3p exhibits different biological functions that inhibit the progression of ccRCC cells, hence it can be a potential therapeutic target candidate for treating ccRCC.
Keywords: ccRCC, miR-758-3p, progression, prognosis, biomarker