Objective To investigate the expression of beta -catenin and its mRNA in re
nal cell carcinoma.
Methods Twenty-six cases with renal cell carcinoma (RCC) were studied by im
munohistochemistry, Western blot and RT-PCR.
Results We found the expression of beta -catenis is higher in cancer tissue
s than in normal kidney tissues and the level of beta -catenin is associate
d with the tumor stage. Its expression in tumor of pT3 and pT4 is obviously
higher than pT1 and pT2 (P<0.01). That is to say, there was an overexpress
ion of <beta>-catenin protein in RCC and its level was related to the tumor
stage, but the expression of beta -catenin mRNA had no difference between
tumor tissue and normal tissue.
Conclusion beta -catenin may be related to the occurrence and progress of R
CC.