MicroRNA-183 promotes the proliferation and metastasis of renal cell carcinoma through targeting Dickkopf-related protein 3

Renal cell carcinoma (RCC) is insensitive to conventional chemotherapy and radiotherapy, and its prognosis remains poor. Targeted therapy is a novel technique for the treatment of RCC. The present study aimed to determine the precise effects of microRNA-183 (miR-183) on RCC. Reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction analysis was conducted in order to analyze the expression level of miR-183 in RCC cell lines. Cell transfection, viability assays and invasion assays were also performed, followed by western blot analysis and a luciferase reporter assay, in order to examine the effects of miR-183. The expression of miR-183 was upregulated in all four RCC cell lines compared with the immortalized normal proximal tubule epithelial HK-2 cell line. The cell viability and invasion assays demonstrated that decreased expression of miR-183 suppressed RCC cell proliferation and invasion in vitro. Furthermore, the present study identified that Dickkopf-related protein-3 (DKK-3) was a direct target of miR-183 in RCC. The results demonstrated that miR-183 functioned as an oncogene by downregulating DKK-3 expression and that it provided a potential diagnostic, prognostic and therapeutic target for RCC.