Expression of TGF-β1 in Wilms' tumor was associated with invasiveness and disease progression

To detect the expression of TGF-β1 in Wilms' tumor and association with disease progression.

Immunohistochemistry was used to examine TGF-β1 expression in 51 primary tumors and 17 invasions/metastases. Transient transfection was performed to establish Wilms' tumor cells with high TGF-β1 expression (TGF-β1-WT), and the expression level of TGF-β1 was detected by Western blot analysis. Invasive capacity of the transfected cells was evaluated by transwell analysis.

The positive expression rate of TGF-β1 was 50.98% (26/51) and 82.35% (14/17) in primary WT tissues and associated invasive/metastatic tissues, respectively. The higher level of TGF-β1 expression in primary WT tumors was relative to invasion/metastasis (p = 0.048). The expression of TGF-β1 between primary WT and matched invasive/metastatic tissues was concordant (p = 0.219). TGF-β1-WT cells showed more invasive capacity than GFP-WT and WT cells. TGF-β1 expression status was associated with disease-free survival (DFS) (50.2 months vs. 75.4 months, p = 0.022) but not overall survival (OS) (62.3 months vs. 75.8 months, p = 0.141).

Positive expression of TGF-β1 in WT was correlated with tumor invasion and disease progression, which might be useful in identifying patients at high risk of unfavorable outcomes.