The epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) process has increasingly been examined due to its role in the progression of human tumors. Renal cell carcinoma (RCC) is one of the most common urological tumors that results in patient mortality. Previous studies have demonstrated that the EMT process is closely associated with the metastasis of RCC; however, the underlying molecular mechanism has not been determined yet. The present study revealed that interleukin (IL)-8 was highly expressed in metastatic RCC. IL-8 could induce the EMT of an RCC cell line by enhancing N-cadherin expression and decreasing E-cadherin expression. Furthermore, IL-8 could induce AKT phosphorylation, and the phosphatidylinositol-4,5-bisphosphate 3-kinase inhibitor LY294002 could inhibit the EMT of RCC cells that was induced by IL-8. Therefore, these results suggest that IL-8 is able to promote the EMT of RCC through the activation of the AKT signal transduction pathway, and this may provide a possible molecular mechanism for RCC metastasis.
Keywords: AKT; epithelial-mesenchymal transition; interleukin-8; metastasis; renal cell carcinoma.