Identification and validation of novel metastasis-related signatures of clear cell renal cell carcinoma using gene expression databases.

Patients with clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC) typically face aggressive disease progression when metastasis occurs. Here, we screened and identified differentially expressed genes in three microarray datasets from the Gene Expression Omnibus database. We identified 112 differentially expressed genes with functional enrichment as candidate prognostic biomarkers. Lasso Cox regression suggested 10 significant oncogenic hub genes involved in earlier recurrence and poor prognosis of ccRCC. Receiver operating characteristic curves validated the specificity and sensitivity of the Cox regression penalty used to predict prognosis. The area under the curve indexes of the integrated genes scores were 0.758 and 0.772 for overall and disease-free survival, respectively. The prognostic values of ADAMTS9, C1S, DPYSL3, H2AFX, MINA, PLOD2, RUNX1, SLC19A1, TPX2, and TRIB3 were validated through an analysis of 10 hub genes in 380 patients with ccRCC from a real-world cohort. The expression levels of were of high prognostic value for predicting metastatic potential. These findings will likely significantly contribute to our understanding of the underlying mechanisms of ccRCC, which will enhance efforts to optimize therapy.