Abstract:

Objective  To research the correlation between nephroblastoma overexpressed gene(NOV/CCN3) and vascular endothelial growth factor（VEGF），cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor p27，cell proliferating antigen Ki-67, cyclooxygenase-2（COX-2）expression in renal clear cell carcinoma (ccRCC). Methods  The NOV expressed plasmid (pEGFP-C1-NOV) was constructed and transfected into ccRCC cell line 786-O. The mRNA levels of VEGF， p27， Ki-67, COX-2, and NOV were tested via RT-PCR in 786-O group,  786-O-empty vector group and 786-O-NOV group. Immunohistochemistry of NOV,  Ki-67, VEGF, p27and COX-2 was performed on tissue microarrays (TMA) and immunohistochemistry staining intensities were analyzed. Results  NOV mRNA expression of 786-O-NOV group was higher compared with the other two groups, while there was no significant difference between another two groups. The 786-O-NOV cells expressed more p27, COX-2 and less Ki67, VEGF compared with the other two groups(P<0.05). By immunohistochemistry the expression of NOV was negatively related to the expressions of Ki67 and VEGF(the correlation coefficients were -0.686 and -0.646， respectively, P＜0.05 ), while positively to the expressions of p27 and COX-2 (the correlation coefficients were 0.491 and 0.762，respectively, P<0.05). Conclusion  NOV could influence the proliferation and invasion of tumor cells in ccRCC. The mechanism may be associated with its influence on the expressions of Ki-67， VEGF， p27 and COX-2.

Key words: Clear cell renal cell carcinoma; Nephroblastoma overexpressed gene; Ki-67; Vascular endothelial growth factor; p27; Cyclooxygenase-2