Kinesin Motor Protein KIFC1 Is a Target Protein of miR-338-3p and Is Associated With Poor Prognosis and Progression of Renal Cell Carcinoma

摘要

KIFC1 (kinesin family member C1) plays a critical role in clustering of extra centrosomes in various cancer cells and thus could be considered as a promising therapeutic target. However, whether KIFC1 is involved in the procession of renal cell carcinoma (RCC) still remains unclear. In this study, we found that KIFC 1 was upregulated in RCC tissues and is responsible for RCC tumorigenesis (p< 0.001). The high expression of KIFC1 correlates with aggressive clinicopathologic parameters. Kaplan-Meier analysis suggested that KIFC1 was associated with poor survival prognosis in RCC. Silencing KIFC1 dramatically resulted in inhibition of proliferation, delayed the cell cycle at G_2/M phase, and suppressed cell invasion and migration in vitro. The antiproliferative effect of KIFC1 silencing was also observed in xenografted tumors in vivo. miR-338-3p could directly bind to the 3'-untranslated region (3'-UTR) of KIFC1, and ectopic miR-338-3p expression mimicked the inhibitory functions of KIFC1 silencing on RCC cells through inactivation of the PI3K/AKT signaling pathway. Therefore, these results revealed that KIFC 1 may be a novel biomarker and an effective therapeutic target for the treatment of RCC.