High CXC chemokine receptor 4 expression is an adverse prognostic factor in patients with clear-cell renal cell carcinoma.
BACKGROUND
Aberrant CXC chemokine receptor 4 (CXCR4) expressions in malignant tissues have been reported; however, its role in kidney cancer prognosis remains unknown. The aim of this study was to determine the prognostic value of CXCR4 expression in patients with clear-cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC).


METHODS
The study included 225 patients with ccRCC. The cohort was split into a training set (n=125) and a validation set (n=100). CXC chemokine receptor 4 expression was analysed by immunohistochemical staining and its correlations with clinicopathologic features and prognosis were evaluated.


RESULTS
CXCR4-staining intensity increased gradually accompanied with disease progression from TNM stages I to IV in 225 patients with ccRCC. Moreover, high CXCR4 expression indicated reduced overall survival (OS) in the training (P<0.001) and validation (P<0.001) sets, especially for patients with early-stage (TNM stage I+II) diseases. Furthermore, CXCR4 expression was identified as an independent prognostic factor for OS, and combining TNM stage with CXCR4 expression showed a better prognostic value for OS in both sets.


CONCLUSIONS
High CXCR4 expression, an independent adverse prognostic factor, could be combined with TNM stage to generate a predictive nomogram for clinical outcome in patients with ccRCC.
Department of Urology, Zhongshan Hospital, Shanghai Medical College of Fudan University, Shanghai 200032, China.
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H
An
Department of Urology, Zhongshan Hospital, Shanghai Medical College of Fudan University, Shanghai 200032, China.
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L
Xu
Department of Urology, Ninth People's Hospital, School of Medicine, Shanghai Jiaotong University, Shanghai 200011, China.
Y
Y
Zhu
Department of Urology, Zhongshan Hospital, Shanghai Medical College of Fudan University, Shanghai 200032, China.
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T
Lv
Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Key Laboratory of Glycoconjugate Research, MOH, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Shanghai Medical College of Fudan University, Shanghai 200032, China.
W
W
Liu
Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Key Laboratory of Glycoconjugate Research, MOH, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Shanghai Medical College of Fudan University, Shanghai 200032, China.
Y
Y
Liu
Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Key Laboratory of Glycoconjugate Research, MOH, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Shanghai Medical College of Fudan University, Shanghai 200032, China.
H
H
Liu
Department of Pathology, Children's Hospital, Shanghai Medical College of Fudan University, Shanghai 201102, China.
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L
Chen
Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Key Laboratory of Glycoconjugate Research, MOH, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Shanghai Medical College of Fudan University, Shanghai 200032, China.
J
J
Xu
Department of Urology, Zhongshan Hospital, Shanghai Medical College of Fudan University, Shanghai 200032, China.
Z
Z
Lin
D000368:Aged; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000378:metabolism*; D002292:Carcinoma, Renal Cell / Q000401:mortality* / Q000473:pathology* / Q000628:therapy; D015331:Cohort Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007680:Kidney Neoplasms / Q000401:mortality* / Q000473:pathology* / Q000628:therapy; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D011379:Prognosis; D019718:Receptors, CXCR4 / Q000378:metabolism*
D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; D019718:Receptors, CXCR4