Prognostic role of N-Acetylgalactosaminyltransferase 10 in metastatic renal cell carcinoma

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: A previous study demonstrated that GALNT10 affects the sensitivity of cancer cells to tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI) therapy. The aim of this study was to assess whether GALNT10 holds a prognostic role in metastatic renal cell carcinoma (mRCC) patients treated with TKI agents. RESULTS: GALNT10 had no statistical correlation with any other clinicopathological parameters except for route of gaining samples (P = 0.001) and Heng's risk stratification (P = 0.011). Patients with high level of GALNT10 had significantly shorter overall survival (OS) (P < 0.001) and progression-free survival (PFS) (P = 0.002). Importantly, this relationship existed in OS and PFS analyses in sunitinib-treated patients and in OS analyses in sorafenib-treated patients (P = 0.024). In contrast to sorafenib group, percentage of partial response (PR) and stable disease (SD) were higher in sunitinib group, while percentage of progression disease (PD) was much lower. Univariate and multivariate analyses identified that GALNT10 was an independent prognostic factor for OS (HR = 1.938, P = 0.014), not for PFS (HR = 1.532, P = 0.065), in mRCC. Incorporating it into Heng's risk model could sharpen its efficacy in distinguishing patients with potential higher risk. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We retrospectively enrolled 138 mRCC patients treated with sunitinib or sorafenib at Zhongshan Hospital, Shanghai, China. A total of 111 valid cases were finally applied for analyses. CONCLUSIONS: These findings suggest that GALNT10 could be applied as a prognostic marker for OS in mRCC patients.