A clinical study on the expression of PTEN in renal cell carcinoma in children

Abstract

The expression pattern of tumor suppressor gene phosphatase and tensin homolog deleted on chromosome ten (PTEN) and phosphatase and tensin homolog deleted on chromosome ten/phosphatidylinositol3-kinase/protein kinase B (PTEN/PI3K/AKT) cell signaling pathway in renal cell carcinoma (RCC) were investigated in children. A total of 5 cases of RCC (observation group) in children and 10 cases of benign kidney tumor (control group) diagnosed by pathological examinations were included to obtain tumor samples. Expression of PTEN mRNA was detected by reverse transcription-quan-titative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR). The protein expression of PTEN, PI3K and AKT was detected by western blotting; relationships between the expression level of PTEN mRNA and the clinical features of RCC were analyzed. It turned out that expression level of PTEN mRNA in the observation group was significantly lower than that in the control group. The protein expression levels of PTEN, PI3K and AKT were significantly lower in the observation group than in the control group (P<0.05). The expression level of PTEN mRNA decreased with the increased clinical stage of RCC (P<0.05), and was not related to sex, age and maximum tumor diameter (P>0.05). The results showed that downregulation of the tumor suppressor gene PTEN expression and the inhibition of PTEN/PI3K/AKT cell signaling pathway may be involved in the occurrence and development of RCC in children. Xp11.2 translocation induced-fracture of transcription plays an important role in the development of RCC in children, suggesting that the occurrence of RCC in children may be related to genetic variations. Recent studies shown that tumor suppressor gene phosphatase and tensin homolog deletions on chromosome ten (PTEN) is closely related to the occurrence and development of multiple malignant tumors such as glioma (4), breast cancer (5), liver cancer (6), colon cancer (7) and prostate cancer (8), and plays an important role in the inhibition of cell proliferation, cell migration and cell adhesion (9), and induction of apoptosis (10), embryonic development (11) and angiogenesis (12). PI3K/AKT is an important downstream target of PTEN, and PTEN/PI3K/AKT cell signaling pathway may play an important role in the occurrence and development of multiple tumors. This study investigated the expression pattern of PTEN and PTEN/PI3K/AKT cell signaling pathway in RCC in children.