Galectin-1 and Galectin-3 mRNA expression in renal cell carcinoma.

Background: Galectins are known to regulate cell differentiation and growth as well as cell adhesion and apoptosis. Galectins have been discussed as possible prognosticators for survival in renal cell cancer (RCC) and other urological tumors. They might also play an emerging role as possible new marker-proteins for RCC.

GATA5 CpG island hypermethylation is an independent predictor for poor clinical outcome in renal cell carcinoma.

Transcriptional inactivation and CpG island (CGI) methylation of GATA transcription factor family members GATA3 and GATA5 have been reported for a few types of human cancer. Whether high-density CGI methylation of GATA3 or GATA5 is associated with the clinical course of patients with renal cell cancer (RCC) has not been clarified. Quantitative methylation-specific PCR assays were carried out to analyze 25 tumor cell lines including 6 RCC lines and 119 RCC and 87 adjacent normal tissues for the presence of densely methylated sequences.

PTEN and p27Kip1 are not downregulated in the majority of renal cell carcinomas--implications for Akt activation.

Activation of the PKB/Akt pathway is supposed to substantially contribute to the pathogenesis and progression of malignant disease. The present study aimed at determining the occurrence of an impaired PTEN and p27Kip1 expression alone or in combination in a renal cell carcinoma to further clarify the role of Akt-pathway-associated proteins for the development and/or progression of this malignant disease. By using tissue microarray analysis, tissue samples from renal cell cancers and the corresponding benign tissue samples were investigated for expression of the PTEN, pAkt and p27Kip1 protein by immunohistochemistry.