Abstract. Background/Aim: Due to its poor prognosis, it is increasingly necessary to understand the biology of renal cell cancer (RCC). Therefore, we investigated the role of microRNAs miR-1 and miR-21 in the growth of RCC cells compared to that of non-malignant renal cells. Materials and Methods: Four malignant cell lines RCC4, A498) Tumorigenesis gives cells an advantage in survival by an increase of proliferation, angiogenesis, immunomodulation and immortality (1-4). Due to its delayed diagnosis until advanced stages, renal cell cancer (RCC) is known as the deadliest neoplasm of the urinary tract (1, 5). Thus, it is more necessary than ever to understand its tumor biology and explore new targets for further therapeutic approaches and prognostic options (6). Former studies suggested that among others, a misguided microRNA expression pattern may be involved in tumor initiation and progression in RCC (7,8). Among such mechanisms, small regulatory RNAs, so-called microRNAs (miRs), can operate as controllers of different proccesses in tumorigenesis, such as cell migration and differentiation, as well as metastasis and apoptosis (9-11). miR-1 and miR-21 are two of numerous representatives of microRNAs. miR-1, initially found in cardiac muscle cells (12), but also found in various tissues (13-15), was strongly suspected of acting as a tumor suppressor due to its antioncogenic properties (16) in prostate, breast and colorectal cancer (13-15); interestingly, the type of tissue in fact determines the biological behavior of miR-1 (9). Sadly, the current data situation for the expression of miR-1 in RCC leaves much to be desired. For this reason, our study aimed to expand the first findings in order to gain a better understanding of the tumor biology of RCC. Similarly to miR-1, miR-21 was also detected in various malignant tissues, such as prostate and lung cancer and their metastases, pancreatic cancer and colorectal cancer (17-21). However, in contrast to miR-1, miR-21 appears to be an oncomir. There are preliminary investigations, showing miR-21 to appear as an oncomir in the case of RCC (22, 23).The fact that cancer cells have a further survival advantage by extending their chromosomal ends by means of endogenic telomerase, not only raises a problem, but also provides a therapeutic approach in cancer therapy (4).In order to gain deeper insight into these issues, as far as we are aware, we are the first to investigate one non-malignant 625 This article is freely accessible online. *These Authors contributed equally to this study.
Materials and MethodsCell culture. Human RCC cell lines Caki-1, 786-O, A498 (all Cell Lines Service, Eppelheim, Germany), and RCC4 (Sigma-Aldrich, München, Germany) and the non-malignant renal cell line RC-124 (Cell Lines Service) were applied in this study. Caki-1 and A498 cells were propagated in minimum essential medium (MEM) supplemented with 79.6 mg/l non-essential amino acids, 2 mM L-glutamine, 1 mM sodium pyruvate, 1% penicillline/streptomycin (P/S), and 10% fetal bovine serum (FBS...