A 17-Gene Signature Predicted Prognosis in Renal Cell Carcinoma

Renal cell carcinoma (RCC), which was one of the most common malignant tumors in urinary system, had gradually increased incidence and mortality in recent years. Although significant advances had been made in molecular and biology research on the pathogenesis of RCC, effective treatments and prognostic indicators were still lacking. In order to predict the prognosis of RCC better, we identified 17 genes that were associated with the overall survival (OS) of RCC patients from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) dataset and a 17-gene signature was developed. Through SurvExpress, we analyzed the expression differences of the 17 genes and their correlation with the survival of RCC patients in five datasets (ZHAO, TCGA, KIPAN, KIRC, and KIRP), and then evaluated the survival prognostic significance of the 17-gene signature for RCC. Our results showed that the 17-gene signature had a predictive prognostic value not only in single pathologic RCC, but also in multiple pathologic types of RCC. In conclusion, the 17-gene signature model was related to the survival of RCC patients and could help predict the prognosis with significant clinical implications