CXCR4 Expression in Patients with High-risk Locally Advanced Renal Cell Carcinoma Can Independently Predict Increased Risk of Disease Progression and Poor Overall Survival

Aims and background: CXC receptor 4 (CXCR4), one of chemokine receptor family, plays important roles in metastasis of solid malignancies. In the present study, we aimed to investigate the potential predictive value of CXCR4 in the metastasis of patients with high-risk locally advanced renal cell carcinoma (LARCC). Materials and
Methods: From 2001 to 2005, the expression of CXCR4 in 117 high-risk LARCCs was evaluated with immunohistochemical staining and assessed for correlations with clinical characteristics, progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) of the patients.
Results: Mean duration of follow-up was 51 months. 4-year PFS and OS of patients was 55.6% and 69.2%, respectively. High expression of CXCR4 was associated with not only increased risk for disease progression (p=0.001), but also worse OS of high-risk LARCC patients (p=0.001). Further analysis also suggested that CXCR4 expression had a significant negative predictive value for the effect of interferon alpha (IFN-α) on PFS (p=0.003).
Conclusions: CXCR4 is a novel biomarker for prognosis in high-risk LARCC, which might furthermore have promise to predict clinical response to adjuvant therapy.