title: MicroRNA-122 promotes proliferation, invasion and migration of renal cell carcinoma cells through the PI3K/Akt signaling pathway.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are a small class of non-coding, single-stranded RNAs with a critical role in genesis and maintenance of renal cancer mainly through binding to 3'-untranslated regions (3'UTR) of target mRNAs, which causes a block of translation and/or mRNA degradation. The aim of the present study was to investigate the potential effects of miR-122 in human renal cell carcinomas.
  
  
  METHODS
  The expression level of miR-122 was quantified by qRT-PCR. MTT, colony formation, invasion and migration assays were used to 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 activating PI3K/Akt signal pathway and could be a potential molecular target for anti-cancer therapeutics.
authors.affiliation: Department of Urology, China-Japan Union Hospital of Jilin University, Changchun, Jilin, China E-mail : weihuawangjilin@gmail.com, wei@uro.med.tohoku.ac.jt.
authors.forename: Ji-Hu
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Lian
authors.forename: Wei-Hua
authors.initials: WH
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Jia-Qiang
authors.initials: JQ
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Yu-Hong
authors.initials: YH
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Yi
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Li
mesh_terms: D002292:Carcinoma, Renal Cell / Q000235:genetics* / Q000473:pathology; D045744:Cell Line, Tumor; D002465:Cell Movement / Q000235:genetics*; D049109:Cell Proliferation / Q000235:genetics*; D015972:Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic / Q000235:genetics*; D006801:Humans; D007680:Kidney Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics* / Q000473:pathology; D035683:MicroRNAs / Q000235:genetics*; D009361:Neoplasm Invasiveness / Q000235:genetics; D019869:Phosphatidylinositol 3-Kinases / Q000378:metabolism*; D051057:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-akt / Q000378:metabolism*; D015398:Signal Transduction / Q000235:genetics*; D058570:TOR Serine-Threonine Kinases / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D035683:MicroRNAs; D019869:Phosphatidylinositol 3-Kinases; D051057:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-akt; D058570:TOR Serine-Threonine Kinases; C531907:MIRN122 microRNA, human; C546842:MTOR protein, human