Down-regulated expression of RhoA in human conventional renal cell carcinoma.
BACKGROUND
Renal cell carcinoma (RCC) is the most common cancer in adult kidney. Delayed diagnosis may result in progression and metastasis. Markers for early detection of RCC are lacking. The small GTPase RhoA has been implicated in the regulation of cell morphology, motility and transformation, but the role of RhoA in tumorigenesis of RCC remains unclear. In this study, the significance of RhoA expression in human RCC was characterized.


METHODS
RhoA mRNA and protein expressions were examined by real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and immunohistochemistry respectively in 46 pairs of tissues.


RESULTS
Real-time PCR revealed that RhoA mRNA expression was significantly lower in cancerous as compared to normal tissues (p = 0.036). RhoA protein expression was significantly higher in normal than in cancerous tissues (p = 0.032). However, RhoA expression did not correlate with age, differentiation grade or TNM stage (all p > 0.05).


CONCLUSIONS
RhoA down-regulation may be involved in human renal tumorigenesis.
Pu
Yeong-Shiau
YS
Department of Urology, National Taiwan University College of Medicine, Taipei, Taiwan, ROC.
Wang
Chuang-Wei
CW
Liu
Guang-Yaw
GY
Kuo
Yi-Zih
YZ
Huang
Chao-Yuan
CY
Kang
Wang-Yi
WY
Shun
Chia-Tung
CT
Lin
Chia-Chi
CC
Wu
Wen-Jeng
WJ
Hour
Tzyh-Chyuan
TC