title: Prognostic significance of ubiquinol-cytochrome c reductase hinge protein expression in patients with clear cell renal cell carcinoma.
abstract: Ubiquinol-cytochrome c reductase hinge protein (UQCRH), as a connecter between cytochrome c1 with cytochrome c in complex III of respiratory chain, is top-ranked hypermethylated gene in clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC). This study aims to evaluate the impact of UQCRH on recurrence and survival of 424 ccRCC patients enrolled retrospectively from a single institution after surgical resection using immunohistochemistry method. UQCRH was specifically downregulated in ccRCC, compared with papillary and chromophobe RCC. Moreover, patients with low UQCRH were prone to possess high T stage and TNM stage and associated with poor survival and early recurrence. UQCRH remained an independent favorable prognosticator for OS (Hazard rate [HR]: 0.510, 95% CI: 0.328-0.795, p=0.003) and RFS (HR: 0.506, 95% CI: 0.334-0.767, p=0.001) adjusting with other well-established factors using backward Cox model. Furthermore, in stratified subgroups, patients with low UQCRH had an increased risk of recurrence (HR: 0.452, 95% CI: 0.261-0.783, p=0.005) and mortality (HR: 0.386, 95% CI: 0.205-0.726, p=0.003) in subgroup of early TNM stage. Taken together, UQCRH is a potential independent favorable prognostic factor for recurrence and survival of patients with ccRCC after nephrectomy.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Fudan University Shanghai, China.
authors.forename: Wei-Si
authors.initials: WS
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Fudan University Shanghai, China.
authors.forename: Yi-Dong
authors.initials: YD
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Fudan University Shanghai, China.
authors.forename: Qiang
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Fu
authors.affiliation: Department of Immunology, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Fudan University Shanghai, China.
authors.forename: Wei-Juan
authors.initials: WJ
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Department of Urology, Zhongshan Hospital, Shanghai Medical College of Fudan University Shanghai, China.
authors.forename: Le
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.affiliation: Department of Urology, Zhongshan Hospital, Shanghai Medical College of Fudan University Shanghai, China.
authors.forename: Yuan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Chang
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Fudan University Shanghai, China.
authors.forename: Jie-Jie
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Xu
keywords: Clear cell renal cell carcinoma; overall survival; prognostic biomarker; recurrence-free survival; ubiquinol-cytochrome c reductase hinge protein