Expression And Clinical Significance Of ADAM17 And EGFR In Clear Cell Renal Cell Carcinoma

Objective: To investigate the expression of a disintegrin and metallop 17 (ADAM17) and epidermalgrowth factor receptor(EGFR) in clear cell renal cell carcinoma and to reveal their roles in ccRCC occurrence and development.Methods: Real time quantitative reverse transcription PCR (RFQ-RT-PCR)was used to detect the expression of ADAM17 and EGFR mRNA in 30 cases of fresh ccRCC and 29 cases of normal kidney tissues (29 paired cases); Immunohistochem -istry streptavidin-peroxidase(SP) was used to detect the expression of ADAM17 and EGFR proteins in 30 cases of paraffin-embedded ccRCC tissues and 12 cases of paraffin-embedded adjacent normal kidney tissues.Results: The positive rate of ADAM17 and EGFR proteins expression in 30 cases of ccRCC was 70%(29/30), 56.7% (17/30) and in 12 cases of normal kidney tissues 33.3%(4/12), 16.7%(2/12), respectively(p<0.05). The mRNA expression of ADAM17 and EGFR was 0.064±0.010, 0.082±0.014 in 32 cases of ccRCC and 0.020±0.004, 0.031±0.005 in 29 cases of normal kidney tissues(p<0.05). There was a positive correlation between ADAM17 and EGFR in the ccRCC patients both in mRNA and protein levels(C=0.53, P<0.05; r=0.685,P<0.05).Conclusion: The expression levels of ADAM17 and EGFR is higher in ccRCC tissues than normal kidney tissues; There is a positive correlation between ADAM17 and EGFR. Therefor ADAM17 may play a role in promoting oncogenesis by activating EGFR, then become a target for clinical anti-cancer drug design.