The metastasis suppressor CD82/KAI1 regulates cell migration and invasion via inhibiting TGF-β 1/Smad signaling in renal cell carcinoma

The tetraspanin KAI1/CD82 was identified as a tumor metastasis suppressor that downregulated in various malignant cell types. However, the function of CD82 and its underlying anti-metastasis role in renal cell carcinoma (RCC) is still unraveled. Here, we investigated the expression of CD82 in RCC and explored its regulatory mechanism in RCC cell lines. We found that CD82 was down-regulated in RCC tissues and cells and its expression was significantly associated with histological grade(p=0.041), tumour stage (p=0.036) and tumor size(p=0.020) by analyzing tissue microarrays. After upregulation of CD82 through lentivirus, reduced ability of migration and invasion in Caki-1 cells were detected. In contrast, gene silencing of CD82 by small interfering RNA promoted metastatic and invasive potential of 786-O cells. Furthermore, Western blot was performed to identify the influence of CD82 on MMP family and TGF-β1/Smad pathway in RCC. Subsequently, upregulating protein level of TGF-β1 with the overexpression of CD82 could rescue the malignant behaviors inhibited by CD82 which indicated that CD82 played its inhibitory role in RCC partially by attenuating the expression of TGF-β1. Taken together, CD82 played a prominent role in migration and invasion of RCC cells and it might exhibit its inhibitory role in RCC metastasis via block TGF-β1/Smad signaling pathway.