Response Gene to Complement 32 与透明细胞肾细胞癌患者生存不良及炎性肿瘤免疫微环境相关

It has been well established that tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) play a critical role in the pathogenesis and progression of clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC).

However, the mechanism on the interactions between TILs and tumor cells in the tumor-immune microenvironment remains unclear. In the present study, the expression of Response Gene to Complement 32 (RGC-32) was evaluated using immunohistochemistry.

We analyzed the associations of RGC-32 expression with patient characteristics and survival.

We also assessed TILs and their subsets (CD3 + , CD4 + , CD8 + and PD-1 + ) in the tumor nest. The level of RGC-32 expression was positively correlated with ISUP grade and Ki67 expression and was an independent poor prognosis factor of patients with ccRCC. RGC-32 expression was negatively correlated with the infiltration of TIL and CD3 + T cells, but positively correlated with infiltration of PD-1 + cells. In vitro studies showed that RGC-32 expression in renal cancer cells was downregulated by activated immune cells.

Further investigation revealed that RGC-32 expression in renal cancer cells was inhibited by TNF- and IL-1 secreted by activated immune cells. Collectively, these data indicate that RGC-32 could be a novel prognostic and druggable target related to the tumor-immune microenvironment in renal cancer.