miR-30a-5p in the tumorigenesis of renal cell carcinoma: A tumor suppressive microRNA

Renal cell carcinoma (RCC) is the most common type of malignant tumor of the adult kidney and has a poor prognosis. MicroRNAs (miRs) are important in a wide range of biological and pathological processes, including cell differentiation, migration, growth, proliferation, apoptosis and metabolism. The present study aimed to determine the role exerted by miR-30a-5p in the tumorigenesis of RCC. The expression levels of miR-30a-5p in RCC tissues and RCC-derived cells were demonstrated to be significantly downregulated by real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR). Wound scratch assay, cell proliferation assay and flow cytometric analysis revealed that the abilities of migration and proliferation of the RCC-derived cells were suppressed, whereas cell apoptosis was promoted, when miR-30a-5p was overexpressed in these cells. N-acetylgalactos aminyltransferase 7 (GALNT7) was predicted to be one target gene of miR-30a-5p by bioinformatics analysis. Luciferase reporter assay, RT-qPCR and western blotting were performed to confirm that GALNT7 is the direct conserved target of miR-30a-5p. These results suggested that miR-30a-5p has a tumor-suppressive role in the tumorigenesis of RCC.