Previous studies showed that five miRNAs (miR-885-5p, miR-1274, miR-210-3p, miR-224 and miR-1290) were upregulated the most in clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC). Our focus was to understand from a clinical standpoint the functional consequences of upregulating miR-210-3p. Towards this, we utilized the CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing system to deplete miR-210-3p in RCC cell lines (786-o, A498 and Caki2) and characterized the outcomes. We observed that miR-210-3p depletion dramatically increased tumorigenesis, including altering the morphology of A498 and Caki2 cells in a manner characteristic of epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT). These results were corroborated by in vivo xenograft studies, which showed enhanced growth of tumors from miR-210-3p-depleted A498 cells. We identified Twist-related protein 1 (TWIST1) as a key target of miR-210-3p. Analysis of the ccRCC patient data in The Cancer Genome Atlas database showed a negative correlation between miR-210-3p and TWIST1 expression. High TWIST1 and low miR-210-3p expression associated with poorer overall and disease-free survival as compared to low TWIST1 and high miR-210-3p expression. These findings suggest that renal cell carcinoma progression is promoted by TWIST1 suppression mediated by miR-210-3p.
Oncotarget. 2017 Feb 01 [Epub ahead of print]
Hirofumi Yoshino, Masaya Yonemori, Kazutaka Miyamoto, Syuichi Tatarano, Satoshi Kofuji, Nijiro Nohata, Masayuki Nakagawa, Hideki Enokida
Department of Urology, Graduate School of Medical and Dental Sciences, Kagoshima University, Kagoshima 890-8520, Japan., Department of Internal Medicine, Vontz Center, University of Cincinnati, College of Medicine, Ohio 45267-0508, USA., Moores UCSD Cancer Center, La Jolla, California 92093-0803, USA.