Expression of fibrinogen-like protein 1 in clear cell renal cell carcinoma and its clinical significance / 肿瘤研究与临床

ABSTRACT

Objective:To investigate the expression of fibrinogen-like protein 1 (FGL1) in clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC) and its correlation with clinicopathological characteristics of patients with ccRCC.Methods:The clinicopathological data of 242 patients with ccRCC who were diagnosed and treated surgically from January 2015 to December 2018 were retrospectively analyzed. The cancerous tissues and paracancerous tissues (2 cm away from the edge of cancerous tissues) of patients were collected. The expression of FGL1 protein was detected by using immunohistochemistry, and the relative expression level of FGL1 mRNA was detected by using reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). Cox proportional risk model was used to make univariate and multivariate analysis of the influencing factors of progression-free survival (PFS).Results:The positive rate of FGL1 protein in ccRCC tissues was higher than that in paracancerous tissues [28.5% (69/242) vs. 2.1% (5/242)], and the difference was statistically significant ( χ2 = 65.34, P < 0.001); the relative expression level of FGL1 mRNA in ccRCC tissues was higher than that in paracancerous tissues (1.67±0.12 vs. 0.60±0.15), and the difference was statistically significant ( t = 25.33, P < 0.001). The expression of FGL1 was positively correlated with pathological staging ( r = 0.164, P = 0.011), renal vascular tumor thrombus ( r = 0.130, P = 0.043), regional lymph node metastasis ( r = 0.153, P = 0.018), and distant metastasis ( r = 0.160, P = 0.012). Univariate analysis showed that the tumor diameter, regional lymph nodes metastasis, pathological staging, distant metastasis, and FGL1 expression were factors influencing the PFS of ccRCC patients (all P < 0.05). Multivariate regression results showed that high expression of FGL1 ( HR = 11.679, 95% CI 7.432-15.673, P = 0.015), pathological staging of Ⅲ-Ⅳ ( HR = 13.654, 95% CI 8.765-18.761, P = 0.013), and distant metastasis ( HR = 11.387, 95% CI 7.662-14.831, P = 0.038) were independent risk factors for PFS in patients. Conclusions:FGL1 is highly expressed in ccRCC, which is correlated with pathological staging, renal vascular tumor thrombus, regional lymph nodes metastasis, and distant metastasis. The high expression of FGL1 is a risk factor affecting the prognosis of patients with ccRCC.