Objective: To investigate the expression levels of enhancer of zeste homolog 2 (EZH2) and human runt-related transcription factor 3 (RUNX3) in renal cell carcinoma (RCC), and analyze their clinical significance and expression correlation.
Methods: Expressions of EZH2 and RUNX3 proteins were analyzed by immunohistochemistry in 56 RCC tissues and corresponding adjacent normal renal tissues, respectively. Statistic analysis was conducted using SPSS17.0 software.
Results: Immunohistochemistry revealed that the positive rates of EZH2 and RUNX3 expressions were 67.9% and 37.5% in RCC tissues, respectively, and they were 28.6% and 67.3% in adjacent normal renal tissues. The expressions of EZHZ and RUNX3 between RCC and normal renal tissues were significantly different (P<0.05). High expression of EZH2 and low expression of RUNX3 in RCC were associated with the clinical stage (P<0.05), but not associated with pathological differentiation, age or gender (P>0.05). No statistically significant negative correlation was observed in the expressions of EZH2 and RUNX3 in RCC (P>0.05).
Conclusion: Both EZH2 and RUNX3 may play important roles in the development and progression of RCC, and the detection on EZH2 and RUNX3 expressions will be helpful for early diagnosis and prognosis prediction of RCC.