Really interesting new gene finger protein 121 is a tumor suppressor of renal cell carcinoma.

Really interesting new gene finger protein (RING) finger protein 121 (RNF-121) is an E3 ubiquitin ligase involved in the regulation of several signaling pathways. Among those signaling pathways, nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB) signaling pathway is known to play a critical role in tumorigenesis. However, the relevance between RNF121 and cancer development remains poorly understood. In this study, we found that RNF121 was less expressed in tumor tissues than adjacent normal tissues of renal cell carcinoma (RCC) patients. Overexpression of RNF121 inhibited the growth of human RCC cells (768-O cell line) in vivo. Moreover, RNF121 impeded the proliferation, migration and invasion of human RCC cells in vitro. In addition, we found that RNF121 activated NF-κB signaling pathway via promoting IκBα degradation in human RCC cells. Our findings reveal a previously unrecognized role of RNF121 in RCC development, and provide new insights into RCC prognosis and therapy.