High expression of CXC chemokine receptor 6 associates with poor prognosis in patients with clear cell renal cell carcinoma.

PURPOSE

Accumulating evidence indicates that CXC chemokine receptor 6 (CXCR6) has a crucial role in cancer development and progression, however, its role in clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC) remains obscure. The aim of this study is to investigate the prognostic value of CXCR6 expression in patients with ccRCC following surgery.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

This study retrospectively included 239 patients with ccRCC who underwent nephrectomy and had paraffin tissue available at a single center. CXCR6 expression in tumor tissue was evaluated by immunohistochemistry and its associations with overall survival (OS) and recurrence-free survival (RFS) were investigated.

RESULTS

A total of 47.3% tumors were considered as high expression of CXCR6, which was significantly associated with the male sex (P = 0.003) and high Fuhrman grade (P<0.001). A high expression of CXCR6 indicated a reduced OS (P<0.001) and RFS (P = 0.007). Multivariate analysis demonstrated that CXCR6 expression was an independent prognostic factor of OS (hazard ratio = 2.604; 95% CI: 1.338-5.068; P = 0.005) and RFS (hazard ratio = 1.957; 95% CI: 1.065-3.595; P = 0.031). Subgroup analysis found that CXCR6 expression could differentiate survival risks among patients with high-risk disease. Moreover, a nomogram integrating CXCR6 expression and traditional clinical and pathologic features was established and predicted postsurgical recurrence-risk well at 3- and 5-year.

CONCLUSIONS

The expression of CXCR6 in tumor tissue may serve as a potential prognostic biomarker to refine clinical prognosis prediction combined with traditional clinical and pathological analysis for patients with ccRCC after surgery.