Dekel Y, Kugel V, Livne P M, Gal R, Koren R
Department of Urology, Rabin Medical Center-Beilinson Campus, Petah Tikva, Israel.
BJU Int. 2004 Apr;93(6):867-9. doi: 10.1111/j.1464-410X.2003.04730.x.
To investigate whether the expression of protein from the "deleted in colorectal cancer" (DCC) gene, which predicts a poor outcome for patients with colorectal carcinoma, can also serve as a prognostic factor in renal cell carcinoma (RCC).
The expression of DCC was evaluated immunohistochemically in 94 paraffin-embedded tumour samples from patients with stage T1, T2, and T3 clear cell RCC. The mean follow-up was 52.3 months. The endpoints of the study were recurrence of disease and death from disease.
The under-expression of DCC protein was detected in 63% of patients who died from the disease and in 36% with no evidence of disease. DCC protein under-expression was detected in all patients with T1 tumours who died from the disease, in half the T2 tumours and in two-thirds of T3 tumours.
DCC protein under-expression correlated with more aggressive tumour behaviour and a greater risk of death from RCC. However, a larger cohort of patients should be assessed before drawing definitive conclusions.
