COL7A1 expression improves prognosis prediction for patients with clear cell renal cell carcinoma atop of stage

Abstract

Clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC) accounts for 75% of kidney cancers. Due to the high recurrence rate, and treatment options that come with high costs and potential side effects correct prognosis of patient survival is essential for the successful and effective treatment of patients. Novel biomarkers could play an important role in the assessment of the overall survival of patients. COL7A1 encodes for collagen type VII, a constituent of the basal membrane. COL7A1 is associated with survival in many cancers; however, the prognostic value of COL7A1 expression as a standalone biomarker in ccRCC has not been investigated. We used Kaplan-Meier curves and Cox proportional hazards model to investigate the prognostic value of COL7A1, as well as Gene Set Enrichment Analysis to investigate genes that are co-expressed with COL7A1. COL7A1 expression was used to stratify patients into four groups of expression, where the 5-year survival probability of each group was 72.4%, 59.1%, 34.15%, and 8.6% in order of increasing expression. Additionally, COL7A1 expression was successfully used to further divide patients of each stage and histological grade into groups of high and low risk. Similar results were obtained in independent cohorts. In-vitro knockdown of COL7A1 expression significantly impacted ccRCC cells ability to migrate and proliferate. To conclude, we identified COL7A1 as a new prognosis marker that can stratify ccRCC patients.