MicroRNA-122 Promotes Proliferation, Invasion and Migration of Renal Cell Carcinoma Cells Through the PI3K/Akt Signaling Pathway

Objective: MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are a small class of non-coding, single-stranded RNAs with a criticalrole in genesis and maintenance of renal cancer mainly through binding to 3’-untranslated regions (3’UTR) oftarget mRNAs, which causes a block of translation and/or mRNA degradation. The aim of the present studywas to investigate the potential effects of miR-122 in human renal cell carcinomas.
Methods: The expressionlevel of miR-122 was quantified by qRT-PCR. MTT, colony formation, invasion and migration assays were usedto explore the potential functions of miR-122 in human renal cell carcinoma cells.
Results: Cellular growth,invasion and migration in two A498 and 786-O cells were significantly increased after miR-122 transfection.Further experiments demonstrated that overexpression of miR-122 resulted in the increase of phospho-Akt(Ser473) and phospho-mTOR (Ser2448), then activation of mTOR targets, p70S6K and 4E-BP1.
Conclusions:The up-regulation of miR-122 may play an important role in the progress of renal cancer through activatingPI3K/Akt signal pathway and could be a potential molecular target for anti-cancer therapeutics.