CD146 gene expression in clear cell renal cell carcinoma: a potential marker for prediction of early recurrence after nephrectomy

Objectives

To investigate whether CD146 gene expression could provide useful information to predict early recurrence after nephrectomy.

Methods

This study included 84 patients with clear cell renal cell carcinoma (cRCC), and 44 subjects without tumor were used as controls. Quantitative RT-PCR was used to measure the CD146 gene expression.

Results

The mean value of CD146 expression in patients with metastatic cRCC (0.0438?±?0.0024) was significantly higher than in those with localized cRCC (0.0374?±?0.0012, P?=?0.018) or in controls (0.0344?±?0.0010, P?=?0.001). Of patients with localized cRCC, those with recurrence had a significantly higher CD146 expression than those without recurrence (P?=?0.029). The univariate analysis showed that CD146 was associated with early recurrence. The recurrence-free survival curve indicated that patients with a high CD146 expression had a significantly higher recurrence rate than those with a low CD146 expression (P?=?0.018).

Conclusions

CD146 gene expression can be useful for predicting early recurrence and stratifying the patients into risk groups for possible adjuvant treatment.