Expression of Notch family members in stage IV renal cell carcinoma tumors: Notch1 as medium-risk prognosis factor.

e15076 Background: The characterization of factors involved in the etiology of renal cell carcinoma (RCC) may lead to the identification of new targets for therapy and prognostic markers. Recent data indicate that Notch family members can be expressed by malignant RCC cells and this expression may have potential use as a strong prognostic factor. The aim of this study was to investigate the potential of Notch family members as prognostic markers for stage IV patients. Methods: We analyzed, by means of immunohistochemistry and quantitative polymerase chain reaction, protein and mRNA levels of 4 Notch family members in tumor specimens obtained from 48 patients with stage IV RCC. Clinicopathological data for these patients were evaluated. A 34% of the population had hypertension, 7.3% had hypothyroidism, 19.5% were diabetic, 7.7% prediabetic, and 22% showed hyperlipidemia. RCC specimens included clear cell RCC: 34; papillary: 3; mixed: 1; undifferentiated: 1; hypernephroma: 1.The association among biomarkers...