microRNA‑572 functions as an oncogene and a potential biomarker for renal cell carcinoma prognosis

Renal cell carcinoma (RCC) is the third most common urological malignancy in the USA and represents 2‑3% of all adult malignancies. Furthermore, the incidence of RCC has been progressively increasing over recent years. Although the morbidity of treatment has decreased with the use of multidisciplinary synthetic therapy, the prognosis of terminal cancer remains poor, with a 5‑year survival rate of 5‑10%. MicroRNAs (miRs) have been correlated with the regulation of 30‑60% of the protein-coding genes and act as oncogenes or anti‑oncogenes in RCC. Considering this research, miRNAs are likely to be the biomarkers for tumor diagnosis, prognosis and the targets for RCC management. In the present study, 42 formalin‑fixed paraffin‑embedded RCC samples were used. The expression of miR‑572 and the role of miR‑572 in RCC cell proliferation, migration and apoptosis was determined by performing reverse transcription‑quantitative polymerase chain reaction analysis, wound scratch assays, cell proliferation assays, Transwell assays and flow cytometry assays, respectively. Further experiments were conducted to clarify the correlation between miR‑572 expression and clinicopathological variables or overall survival. Furthermore, the expression levels of miR‑572 were evaluated for the prognosis value of patients with RCC. Upregulation of miR‑572 was observed in RCC tissues and RCC cell lines. miR‑572 promoted 786‑O and ACHN cell proliferation and mobility and inhibited early apoptosis. In Cox proportional hazard regression analyses, results of the univariate and multivariate analysis indicated that the patients with low miR‑572 expression had a significantly longer overall survival compared with the patients with high miR‑572 expression (univariate analysis, P=0.037; multivariate analysis, P=0.034). Results of the Kaplan‑Meier survival curves revealed that the patients with downregulated miR‑572 have a significantly longer overall survival compared with the patients with highly expressed miR‑572 (P=0.019). To conclude, the results of the present study suggest that tumor oncogene miR‑572 is a potential biomarker for the diagnosis, treatment and prognosis for RCC.