title: Preliminary observations regarding the expression of collagen triple helix repeat-containing 1 is an independent prognostic factor for Wilms' tumor.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Overexpression of collagen triple helix-repeat containing 1 (CTHRC1) has been reported in many malignancies, where it plays an important role in tumorigenesis and progression. This study aimed to examine the clinical significance of CTHRC1 expression in patients with Wilms' tumor (WT).
  
  
  METHODS
  The expression of CTHRC1, and its correlations with various clinicopathological parameters, was analyzed using immunohistochemistry in 42 WT tissues and 42 adjacent non-cancerous tissues. Samples from 8 patients with WT were examined using Western blotting and quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR). Kaplan-Meier analysis and Cox proportional hazards regression models were used to investigate the correlations between CTHRC1 expression and the prognosis of patients with WT.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Immunohistochemistry, Western blotting, and qRT-PCR revealed that the expression of CTHRC1 was significantly higher in WT tumors, compared to the expression in the adjacent non-cancerous tissues. Furthermore, high tumor expression of CTHRC1 was associated with tumor size, clinical stage, histopathological type, and vascular invasion/metastasis. Moreover, the proportions of expressing cells in the WT specimens was higher than the proportions in the matched adjacent non-cancerous tissues. Kaplan-Meier analysis revealed that patients with high CTHRC1 expression exhibited a shorter survival, compared to patients with low CTHRC1 expression. Univariate and multivariate analyses also revealed that CTHRC1 expression was an independent prognostic factor for overall survival.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our preliminary results suggest that CTHRC1 is an independent prognostic factor, which may play an important role in tumorigenesis and progression, and may be a potential biomarker for WT.
authors.affiliation: Department of Urology, Children's Hospital of Hebei Province, Shijiazhuang, 050031, China.
authors.forename: Can
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Qi
authors.affiliation: Department of Urology, Children's Hospital of Hebei Province, Shijiazhuang, 050031, China. Electronic address: docteryanhu@sina.com.
authors.forename: Yan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Hu
authors.affiliation: Department of Urology of the Children's Hospital of Tianjin, Tianjin, 300074, China.
authors.forename: Fujiang
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, Children's Hospital of Hebei Province, Shijiazhuang, 050031, China.
authors.forename: Huibo
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: An
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, Children's Hospital of Hebei Province, Shijiazhuang, 050031, China.
authors.forename: Jianwei
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Department of Urology, Children's Hospital of Hebei Province, Shijiazhuang, 050031, China.
authors.forename: Hongxia
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Jin
authors.affiliation: Department of Urology, Children's Hospital of Hebei Province, Shijiazhuang, 050031, China. Electronic address: docterguofuchen@126.com.
authors.forename: Fuchen
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Guo
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000378:metabolism*; D015153:Blotting, Western; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D016326:Extracellular Matrix Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D007223:Infant; D053208:Kaplan-Meier Estimate; D007680:Kidney Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology; D008297:Male; D011379:Prognosis; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models; D060888:Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D009396:Wilms Tumor / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology
chemical_list: D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; C502426:CTHRC1 protein, human; D016326:Extracellular Matrix Proteins
keywords: Biomarker; CTHRC1; Immunohistochemistry; Overall survival; Prognosis; Wilms' tumor