%0 Journal Article
%T Down-regulation of the pro-apoptotic XIAP associated factor-1 (XAF1) during progression of clear-cell renal cancer
%A Carsten Kempkensteffen
%A Florian Fritzsche
%A Manfred Johannsen
%A Steffen Weikert
%A Stefan Hinz
%A Manfred Dietel
%A Marc-Oliver Riener
%A Holger Moch
%A Klaus Jung
%A Hans Krause
%A Kurt Miller
%A Glen Kristiansen
%J BMC Cancer
%D 2009
%I BioMed Central
%R 10.1186/1471-2407-9-276
%X This study assessed the expression of XAF1 protein in tumour tissue obtained from 291 ccRCC patients and 68 normal renal tissue samples, utilizing immunohistochemistry on a tissue-micro-array. XAF1 expression was correlated to clinico-pathological tumour features and prognosis.Nuclear XAF1 expression was commonly detected in normal renal- (94.1%) and ccRCC (91.8%) samples, without significant differences of expression levels. Low XAF1 expression in ccRCC tissue, however, was associated with progression of tumour stage (p = 0.040) and grade (p < 0.001). Low XAF1 tumour levels were also prognostic of significantly shortened overall survival times in univariate analysis (p = 0.018), but did not provide independent prognostic information.These data suggest down-regulation of XAF1 expression to be implicated in ccRCC progression and implies that its re-induction may provide a therapeutic approach. Although the prognostic value of XAF1 in ccRCC appears to be limited, its predictive value remains to be determined, especially in patients with metastatic disease undergoing novel combination therapies of targeted agents with Interferon-alpha.Renal cell carcinoma (RCC) of the clear-cell type accounts for 3% of all adult malignancies and exhibits the highest cancer-related mortality among urological cancer entities [1]. Although the majority of patients (70%) present with localized RCC at the time of diagnosis, approximately 40% progress to metastatic disease following tumour surgery [2,3]. Once metastases are diagnosed, median survival rates drop to less than one year, mainly due to the fact that RCC is largely refractory to conventional cytotoxic therapies [2,4]. The investigation of molecular parameters involved in the development, metastatic spreading and treatment resistance of RCC may help to develop new therapeutic strategies as well as to identify molecular makers that better characterize the aggressiveness of the individual tumour than standard clinico-pathological pre
%U http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2407/9/276