CDK5RAP3 Participates in Autophagy Regulation and Is Downregulated in Renal Cancer

Abstract EN

Renal cancer is one of the most common malignant urological tumors; however, its diagnosis and treatment are not well established.

In the present study, we identified that CDK5 regulatory subunit-associated protein 3 (CDK5RAP3), a putative tumor suppressor in many cancers, was downregulated in renal cancer tissues.

Through loss- and gain-of-function experiments, we observed that the action of CDK5RAP3 in renal cancer cells was different in Caki-1 and 769-P cell lines.

Knockdown of endogenous CDK5RAP3 in Caki-1 slightly increased cell viability, whereas overexpression of CDK5RAP3 in 769-P cells inhibited cell viability.

In addition, we observed that CDK5RAP3 participated in the regulation of autophagy in renal cancer.

Knockdown of CDK5RAP3 induced significant inhibition of autophagy in Caki-1 cells but not in 769-P cells.

In contrast, overexpression of CDK5RAP3 significantly activated autophagy in 769-P cells, as evidenced by increased LC3-II levels.

However, the LC3-II could not be altered by CDK5RAP3 overexpression in Caki-1 cells.

These findings demonstrated that CDK5RAP3 is downregulated in renal cancer and may be associated with autophagy.