Expression and Significance of BNIP3 in Clear Cell Renal Cell Carcinoma

Objective To investigate the expression of proapoptosis protein BNIP3 in clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC) and its clinical significance. Methods The RCC tumor tissue samples from 30 pathologically diagnosed ccRCC and their adjacent pericarcinous tissues were adopted to detect the mRNA and protein expressions of BNIP3, von Hippel-Lindau(VHL), hypoxia inducible factor (HIF)-1α and vascular enothelial growth factor (VEGF) by real-time quantitative PCR(real-time PCR) and Western blot. The correlations of these genes' expressions with clinicopathologic features were analyzed. Results The expression levels of BNIP3 and VHL were lower in ccRCC tissues than those in pericarcinous tissues (P<0.05), but the mRNA expression levels of HIF-1α and VEGF were higher in ccRCC tissues than those in pericarcinous tissues (P<0.05). The lower level expression of BNIP3 in ccRCC was not related with any clinicopathologic features. No significant correlation was observed between the BNIP3 mRNA and protein level with the expressions of VHL, HIF-1α and VEGF. Conclusion In ccRCC, the expression of BNIP3 is decreased, which not correlated with the expression levels of VHL, HIF-1α and VEGF.