title: Decreased expression of mucin 18 is associated with unfavorable postoperative prognosis in patients with clear cell renal cell carcinoma.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  MUC18 is correlated with tumor progression and metastasis in types of malignancy. But the role of MUC18 in clear cell renal cell carcinoma remains unclear. In this study, we aimed to investigate the expression of MUC18 and its correlation with clinical outcomes in clear cell renal cell carcinoma.
  
  
  METHODS
  Immunohistochemical staining was performed in samples from 288 patients with clear cell renal cell carcinoma. We used Kaplan-Meier method and Cox proportional hazard models to value the association between MUC18 expression and clinical outcome. Nomogram was constructed to predict overall survival at 5 and 8 years after nephrectomy.
  
  
  RESULTS
  MUC18 expression was significantly decreased in tumor compared to non-tumor tissue (P<0.001). Lower MUC18 expression in tumor predicted a shorter survival time (P=0.007). By multivariate cox analysis, MUC18 was defined as an independent prognostic factor (P=0.006). The nomogram performed better in predicting 5- and 8-year overall survival than the TNM stage alone in clear cell renal cell carcinoma.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  MUC18 is an independent prognostic factor for clear cell renal cell carcinoma and could be incorporated with the other parameters to predict 5- and 8-year overall survival for clear cell renal cell carcinoma patients.
authors.affiliation: Department of Urology, Zhongshan Hospital, Fudan University Shanghai 200032, China.
authors.forename: Qi
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Bai
authors.affiliation: Department of Urology, Zhongshan Hospital, Fudan University Shanghai 200032, China.
authors.forename: Li
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Department of Urology, Zhongshan Hospital, Fudan University Shanghai 200032, China.
authors.forename: Qilai
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Long
authors.affiliation: Department of Urology, Zhongshan Hospital, Fudan University Shanghai 200032, China.
authors.forename: Yu
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Xia
authors.affiliation: Department of Urology, Zhongshan Hospital, Fudan University Shanghai 200032, China.
authors.forename: Jiajun
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Fudan University Shanghai 200032, China.
authors.forename: Jiejie
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.affiliation: Department of Urology, Zhongshan Hospital, Fudan University Shanghai 200032, China.
authors.forename: Jianming
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Guo
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000032:analysis*; D051929:CD146 Antigen / Q000096:biosynthesis; D002292:Carcinoma, Renal Cell / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology*; D018572:Disease-Free Survival; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D053208:Kaplan-Meier Estimate; D007680:Kidney Neoplasms / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011379:Prognosis; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models
chemical_list: D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; D051929:CD146 Antigen; C497902:MCAM protein, human
keywords: Clear cell renal cell carcinoma; disease free survival; mucin 18; nomogram; overall survival