Cadherin-6: a new prognostic marker for renal cell carcinoma.
OBJECTIVE
Cadherin-6, a new cell adhesion molecule of the cadherin family, is expressed in normal kidney and renal cell carcinoma. First results demonstrated that the expression of cadherin-6 in renal cell carcinoma may have prognostic value. We prospectively evaluated the importance of cadherin-6 in renal tumors in a large cohort of patients.


METHODS
A total of 216 patients with renal cell carcinoma who underwent tumor nephrectomy were evaluated for cadherin-6 expression by immunohistochemistry and immunoblotting. The expression pattern was correlated with known prognostic factors of renal cell carcinoma. Statistical analysis was performed by the Mann-Whitney U and Pearson chi-square tests. Multivariate analysis was performed by the proportional hazard Cox model.


RESULTS
Cadherin-6 expression in renal cell cancer correlated with known prognostic factors, such as pT stage (p = 0.03), pN stage (p = 0.001), histological growth pattern (p = 0.001), M stage (p = 0.06) and renal venous involvement (p = 0.019). There was no correlation with tumor grading (p = 0.74) or tumor size (p = 0.84). We developed a relative risk factor for renal cell cancer for our patients using the multivariate proportional hazard Cox model, which showed a statistically significant correlation with cadherin-6 expression (p = 0.028).


CONCLUSIONS
Cadherin-6, a new cell adhesion molecule of the cadherin family, is specifically expressed in the proximal tubule of normal kidneys and in renal cell cancer. In our prospective analysis the pattern of cadherin-6 expression correlated with known prognostic factors of renal cell cancer on univariate and multivariate analysis. Our data suggest that cadherin-6 is a new prognostic factor for renal cancer.
Paul
Roger
R
Department of Urology, Technischen Universitaet Munich, Klinikum rechts der Isar, Germany. R.Paul@lrz.tu-munich.de
Necknig
Ulrike
U
Busch
Raymonde
R
Ewing
Charles M
CM
Hartung
Rudolf
R
Isaacs
William B
WB
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000032:analysis / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D015820:Cadherins / Q000032:analysis / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D002292:Carcinoma, Renal Cell / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007680:Kidney Neoplasms / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011379:Prognosis; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models; D011446:Prospective Studies
D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; D015820:Cadherins; C087310:K cadherin