Prognostic role of the beta-2 adrenergic receptor in clear cell renal cell carcinoma

Anim Cells Syst (Seoul). 2019 Aug 25;23(5):365-369. doi: 10.1080/19768354.2019.1658638. eCollection 2019.

Abstract

The beta-2 adrenergic receptor (ADRB2) regulates the proliferation, apoptosis, angiogenesis, migration, and metastasis of cancer cells. However, its function in the progression of clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC) is unknown. Here, we report that ADRB2 can be a novel prognostic factor for patients with ccRCC. The differential expression of ADRB2 in low-stage (stages I and II), high-stage (stages III and IV), low-grade (grades I and II), and high-grade (grades III and IV) ccRCC was identified in cohorts of patients from The Cancer Genome Atlas and the International Cancer Genome Consortium. We evaluated ADRB2 expression as a prognostic factor using the Kaplan-Meier survival curve, multivariate analysis, time-dependent area under the curve (AUC) of Uno's C-index, and AUC of the receiver operating characteristics (ROC) at five years. Kaplan-Meier analysis revealed that reduced ADRB2 expression is associated with poor prognosis in ccRCC patients. Analysis of C-indices and AUC-ROC further confirmed this result. Moreover, multivariate analysis confirmed the prognostic significance of ADRB2 expression. Collectively, these findings suggest that ADRB2 is a potential prognostic factor for ccRCC.

Keywords: ADRB2; ICGC; TCGA; ccRCC.

Grants and funding

This work was supported by the MRC program [grant number NRF-2015R1A5A2009656] and the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) grant funded by the Korea government (MSIT) [grant number NRF-2018R1C1B6001290]; and the Convergence Medical Institute of Technology R&D project Pusan National University Hospital [grant number CMIT2019-03].