To observe the effect of glioma-associated oncogene homolog-2 (GLI-2) expression on the prognosis of metastatic clear cell renal cell carcinoma (m-ccRCC) after sunitinib treatment.

Forty-three m-ccRCC patients (2016.01-2018.12) were selected and treated with sunitinib for nephrectomy. Immunohistochemistry was used to detect GLI-2 and sunitinib-targeted molecules [vascular endothelial growth factor receptor (VEGFR)-1 and VEGFR-2] and C-reactive protein (CRP) expression. Kaplan-Meier was used to analyze the relationship between expression and prognosis. Western blotting and quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) were used to detect the expression of protein and mRNA in sunitinib-resistant cell line (786-O-R) and parent cell line (786-O). SPSS software was used to analyze the data and select the corresponding statistical methods. When P<0.05 means the difference was significant.

Of the 43 patients, 1 (2.33%) achieved complete remission (CR), 7 (16.28%) achieved partial remission (PR), and the overall effective rate was 18.60%; single factor analysis found nuclear grading, GLI-2, vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF)-1, VEGFR-2 and CRP levels are factors that affect the progression-free survival of sunitinib therapy [hazard ratio (HR)=2.650, 3.770, 2.850, 2.970, 2.660 respectively, P<0.05]. Multivariate analysis found that GLI-2 is a factor that affects the progression-free survival of sunitinib therapy (HR=4.180, P<0.05); parental cell line The expression of GLI-2 in (786-O) was significantly lower than that of sunitinib-resistant cell line (786-OR).

GLI-2 may be involved in the process of m-ccRCC resistance to sunitinib.

Clear cell renal cell carcinoma; Metastatic; Glioma-associated oncogene homolog-2; Sunitinib; Prognosis