Demethylation of miR-10b plays a suppressive role in ccRCC cells.

MicroRNAs have been implicated in cancer cells proliferation, migration and invasion, including clear-cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC). DNA methylation, a major epigenetic change associated with cancer, may lead to transcriptional silencing of tumor suppressor genes, including miRNAs, which may be a possible mechanism in carcinogenesis. In this study, we aim to investigate the role of miR-10b in ccRCC and its possible epigenetic mechanism. By qPCR and MSP, we found that miR-10b was significantly decreased in ccRCC tissues and cells, and exhibited heavy methylation on promoter. Upregulation of miR-10b by transfecting with lentivirus highly expressed miR-10b or by exogenous demethylation agents was capable of inhibiting cell proliferation, migration and invasion measured by CCK-8 cell proliferation assay, scratch assay, transwell assay, and flow cytometric analysis of the cell cycle. Our results suggest that miR-10b plays a tumor-suppressive role in ccRCC. Demethylation of miR-10b may be therapeutically beneficial for ccRCC treatment.