RFWD3 acts as a tumor promotor in the development and progression of bladder cancer

Background. Bladder cancer is one of the most commonly diagnosed malignancies of the urinary system with relatively poor prognosis and insufficient treatment strategies. RFWD3 is an E3 ligase whose function is rarely investigated in malignant tumors. Methods. A tissue microarray was used for evaluating RFWD3 expression in clinical samples and its correlation with tumor characteristics and patients' prognosis. RFWD3 knockdown and overexpression cell models were constructed for conducting loss-of-function and gain-of-function assays. qPCR and western blotting were used for detecting mRNA and protein levels of RFWD3, respectively. MTT assay, colony formation assay, flow cytometry, wound-healing assay and transwell assay were carried out to demonstrate the change of cell phenotypes upon RFWD3 knockdown. Results. RFWD3 expression was relatively higher in bladder cancer tissues than in normal tissues, which is correlated with higher N stage and poorer prognosis of patients. Knockdown of RFWD3 in bladder cancer cells significantly inhibited cell proliferation, colony formation, promote cell apoptosis and restrained cell migration. Overexpression of RFWD3 induced the opposite effects. Conclusions. It was illustrated that RFWD3 possesses excellent tumor-promoting ability in bladder cancer. Accordingly, RFWD3 may be a promising therapeutic target in the targeted therapy of bladder cancer, which is worth further research.