Expression of CIDE proteins in clear cell renal cell carcinoma and their prognostic significance

Clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC) is the major and aggressive subtype of renal cell carcinoma. It is known to derive its histologic appearance from accumulation of abundant lipids and glycogens. The cell death-inducing DFF45-like effector (CIDE) family has been characterized as the lipid droplet proteins involved in the metabolism of lipid storage droplets. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the expression of CIDE proteins in ccRCC cells and to investigate their prognostic significance. We examined consecutive patients with sporadic ccRCC, who underwent nephrectomy, to measure their mRNA and protein expression of CIDE proteins. We found that Cidec and ADRP expression were significantly up-regulated in ccRCC, compared with normal kidney tissues. Cideb was down-regulated. We also found that Cideb was expressed more in low-grade ccRCC than in high-grade tumors. To further clarify the relationship between Cideb expression and patient prognosis, we evaluated 57 ccRCC patients followed up for 120 months. Reduced ccRCC Cideb expression was associated with a higher Fuhrman nuclear grade. Patients with high Cideb expression had better overall survival rate than those with low expression (p < 0.05). Cideb expression was an independent predictor of survival (p = 0.001). Although the biologic function of Cideb in ccRCC remains unknown, the expression level of Cideb might be a novel predictor of prognosis in ccRCC.