Objective: To investigate the correlation of regulator of G-protein signaling 4 (RGS4) and P16 expressions with pediatric nephroblastoma and its significance on prognosis.
Patients and methods: A total of 80 children with primary nephroblastoma who underwent surgical resection in our hospital from March 2009 to March 2012 were selected as objects of study. The expressions of RGS4 and P16 in cancer and cancer-adjacent tissues of patients were detected by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), Western blot and immunohistochemistry. All patients were followed up for 5 years. The relationship of RGS4 and P16 to nephroblastoma staging and patients' prognosis was analyzed.
Results: The results of RT-PCR and Western blot displayed that the expressions of RGS4, P16 mRNA and protein in cancer tissue, were significantly lower than those in cancer-adjacent tissue (p < 0.05). Immunohistochemistry result revealed that the positive rates of RGS4 and P16 in cancer tissue were distinctly lower than those in cancer-adjacent tissue (76.54% vs. 34.32%, p < 0.05). RGS4 and P16 protein expressions were not associated with tumor, node metastasis (TNM) and pathological typing of nephroblastoma, but they were lowly expressed in patients with high metastasis (p < 0.05). The expressions of RGS4 and P16 were absent in pediatric nephroblastoma, and overall survival (OS) was significantly reduced (p < 0.05).
Conclusions: The absence of RGS4 and P16 in pediatric nephroblastoma tissue is correlated with poor prognosis of patients. RGS4 and P16 are of significance for the prognosis of pediatric nephroblastoma.