Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 27, 2026
12:22
The Use of Reverse Phase Protein Arrays (RPPA) to Explore Protein Expression Variation within Individual Renal Cell Cancers
Published on: January 22, 2013
Differential expression in clear cell renal cell carcinoma identified by gene expression profiling
Brian R Lane1, Jianbo Li, Ming Zhou
1Glickman Urological and Kidney Institute, Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, Ohio 44195, USA. laneb@ccf.org
The Journal of Urology
|December 20, 2008
Summary
Gene expression profiling can distinguish aggressive from indolent clear cell renal cell carcinoma, aiding in predicting patient outcomes. This method offers valuable prognostic information, especially for unilateral and bilateral kidney cancers.
Area of Science:
- Oncology
- Molecular Biology
- Genomics
Background:
- Gene expression profiling provides prognostic insights for solitary renal cell carcinoma.
- Differentiating synchronous metastasis from bilateral primary tumors in renal cell carcinoma remains challenging.
- A custom kidney cancer cDNA array was developed to address these diagnostic limitations.
Purpose of the Study:
- To evaluate the utility of a custom kidney cancer cDNA array for predicting outcomes in patients with unilateral and bilateral renal cell carcinoma.
- To identify gene expression profiles that can differentiate aggressive from indolent clear cell renal cell carcinoma.
- To assess the prognostic value of gene expression profiling compared to standard clinicopathological features.
Main Methods:
- Analysis of fresh frozen tissue from 38 clear cell renal cell carcinomas using a cancer cDNA array with 3,966 cancer-relevant genes.
- Development of a 44-gene expression profile from a training set of 8 tumors.
- Follow-up of patients for a median of 5.3 years to record cancer recurrence and survival outcomes.
Main Results:
- A 44-gene expression profile successfully distinguished aggressive from indolent clear cell renal cell carcinoma.
- Patients predicted to have indolent tumors showed significantly better 5-year recurrence-free survival (68%) compared to those with aggressive tumors (42%, p=0.032).
- Gene expression profiling showed correlation with cancer-specific survival in metachronous bilateral tumors but less so in synchronous bilateral tumors.
Conclusions:
- Gene expression profiling using a kidney cancer-specific cDNA array can differentiate aggressive from indolent clear cell renal cell carcinomas.
- This profiling is particularly useful for unilateral clear cell renal cell carcinoma when standard clinicopathological predictions are uncertain.
- Gene expression profiling offers prognostic value for characterizing tumors of unknown clinical stage, including bilateral metachronous renal cell carcinoma.
