Proliferating cell nuclear antigen and epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFr) status in renal cell carcinoma patients with polysomy of chromosome 7

We investigated 40 cases of renal cell carcinoma (RCC) to study the polysom y 7 status in papillary and clear-cell types (nonpapillary RCC) and relatio nship with clinical, pathological, and biological features such as grade, s tage, tumor proliferation rate (PCNA expression) and epidermal growth facto r receptor (EGFr) expression and thereby to understand the prognostic signi ficance of polysomy 7 and EGFr expression. In a prospective study, chromoso me 7 copy number was analyzed in tumor cells by using fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) with an alpha -satellite DNA probe for chromosome 7. B oth proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) and EGFr expression were exam ined in paraffin sections by immunostaining. The relationship between clini copathological and clinicobiological parameters was evaluated by appropriat e statistical methods. Polysomy 7 was present in 100% of papillary and 56.2 % of clear-cell types RCC. In clear-cell RCC; in comparison with polysomy 7 -dominant (D) category (20-50% polysomy-7 cells), polysomy 7-major (M) cate gory (>50% polysomy 7 cells) was associated with higher tumor grade (P = 0. 05). Polysomy 7 was also correlated with stage of the disease (P = 0.006). The PCNA index ranged between 12.8-89.6% and was comparatively high in high -grade tumors (P = 0.001). The PCNA index was also correlated with polysomy 7 (P = 0.002), and the association was stronger in tumors with polysomy M versus polysomy D category (P = 0.02). The EGFr expression did not correlat e with either grade, stage, PCNA, or polysomy 7. The correlation of polysom y 7 with less favorable prognostic factors such as higher tumor grade, stag e, and higher proliferative index in the present study indicates that polys omy 7 might be used as a prognostic predictor in clear-cell RCC. Evaluation of clinical end points will confirm the prognostic potential of the geneti c marker polysomy 7 in our study. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Inc. All rights reserved.