Diagnostic and prognostic value of the detection of hTERT mRNA in renal tumors

Abstract Introduction Elevated mRNA expression of human telomerase reverse transcriptase (hTERT mRNA) is common in many types of tumors, participating in tumor growth and progression. Such expression has not been sufficiently examined in renal cancer. The goal of the present study was to quantify it and analyze its possible clinical value in the management of this pathology. Patients and methods The study included 111 patients who underwent surgery for renal cell carcinoma (RCC) between 2015 and 2017. Tumor samples were taken from all patients and, in 94 of them, healthy renal tissue adjacent to the tumor was also sampled. The 2 types of tissue were histologically confirmed, after which mRNA was extracted. Using real-time quantitative PCR, the expression of hTERT andglyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (as endogenous control) were indirectly quantified using the crossing point (CP), which isinversely correlated with the number of sample replicates yielding positive results. These values were correlated with patient socio-demographicvariables and clinical-pathological factors of the RCC. Results The majority of patients were males, with an average age of 60.5years (SD: 14.02). Most tumors (69.4%) were clear cell carcinomas. The most frequent stages were pT2 or lower (73%), while 5% were pN1 and 12% pM1. The majority of tumors (58%) were Fuhrman grades 1 or 2 (low grade). All samples of tumor and nontumor tissue expressed glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase mRNA, with the CP in the tumor sample significantly lower than in the nontumor tissue (P Conclusions The quantitation of hTERT mRNA expression in RCC might be useful as a complementary diagnostic tool as well as for assessing aggressiveness of the tumor.