Downregulation of nucleolar and spindle-associated protein 1 expression suppresses cell migration, proliferation and invasion in renal cell carcinoma

Nucleolar and spindle-associated protein 1 (NUSAP1) is a microtubule-binding protein that plays an essential role in mitosis and cancer. Previous studies have demonstrated that NUSAP1 expression is relatively elevated in several malignancies. However, the biological roles of NUSAP1 in renal cell carcinoma (RCC) remain unknown. In the present study, we firstly performed reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and western blot analysis to reveal that the expression of NUSAP1 was relatively elevated in clear cell RCC (ccRCC) tissue specimens and RCC cell lines. Immunohistochemical analysis showed that upregulation of NUSAP1 was significantly correlated with Fuhrman grade (P