One-third of clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC) patients present with metastasis at the time of diagnosis. The prognosis of these patients is poor. To identify potential prognostic biomarkers and therapeutic targets for ccRCC, we re-evaluated published long non-coding RNA (lncRNA) expression profiling data from the Gene Expression Omnibus and ArrayExpress database. We found that five lncRNAs were differentially expressed in ccRCC and adjacent tissues. These lncRNAs were assessed in an independent cohort of 71 paired patient samples using real-time PCR. Differences in expression of three of the lncRNAs (ENSG00000177133, TCL6, and ENSG00000244020) were validated in this analysis. Kaplan-Meier analysis indicated that low expression of ENSG00000177133 and TCL6 was associated with a poor prognosis. Univariate and multivariate regression analyses demonstrated that TCL6 but not ENSG00000177133 expression was an independent predictor of ccRCC aggressiveness and had hazard ratios predictive of clinical outcome. TCL6 expression was negatively correlated with pTNM stage. Overexpression of TCL6 in 786-O and Caki-1 ccRCC cells decreased proliferation and increased apoptosis compared to controls. Our results indicate that lncRNA expression is altered in ccRCC and that decreased TCL6 expression may be an independent adverse prognostic factor in ccRCC patients.
Oncotarget. 2016 Aug 02 [Epub ahead of print]
Hengchuan Su, Tiantian Sun, Hongkai Wang, Guohai Shi, Hailiang Zhang, Fukang Sun, Dingwei Ye
Department of Urology, Fudan University Shanghai Cancer Center, Shanghai, China., Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Renji Hospital, School of Medicine, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai Institute of Digestive Disease, Shanghai, China., Department of Urology, Fudan University Shanghai Cancer Center, Shanghai, China., Department of Urology, Fudan University Shanghai Cancer Center, Shanghai, China., Department of Urology, Fudan University Shanghai Cancer Center, Shanghai, China., Department of Urology, Ruijin Hospital, School of Medicine, Shanghai Jiaotong University, Shanghai, China., Department of Urology, Fudan University Shanghai Cancer Center, Shanghai, China.