The Significance of INHBE Expression in the Cancer Cells of Clear-Cell Renal Cell Carcinoma

Background: Activins and inhibins are structurally related dimeric glycoprotein hormones belonging to the transforming growth factor-beta superfamily but whether they are also involved in malignancy is far from clear. No study has reported the expression of INHBE in kidney cancer. The purpose of this study was to examine the expressions of INHBE in the tumor tissue of patients with clear-cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC) and to explore the pathologic significance. Methods: The INHBE mRNA expression in the tumor tissue of ccRCC patients was analyzed by using RNA sequencing data from the TCGA database. To examine the expression of inhibin beta E protein, 241 ccRCC patients were recruited and immunohistochemistry was performed on the tumor tissue of these patients along with 39 normal renal samples. The association between the inhibin beta E expression level and patient's clinicopathological indices was evaluated. Results: In the normal renal tissue, inhibin beta E was found to be expressed mainly by renal tubular epithelial cells. In the tumor tissue, inhibin beta E was expressed mainly in cancer cells. The expressions of INHBE mRNA and protein in the tumor tissue of ccRCC patients increased significantly compared with those in normal renal samples. There was a significant correlation between the level of inhibin beta E in the tumor tissue and tumor grade. Patients with a lower inhibin beta E expression in the tumor tissue were found to have a longer overall survival and disease-specific survival. Conclusions: INHBE might be involved in the pathogenesis of ccRCC and function as a tumor promoter. (C) 2021 S. Karger AG, Basel