The following is a summary of “Prognostic role of the endothelial cell-specific molecule-1 histopathologic expression in renal cell cancer,” published in the June 2023 issue of the Urologic Oncology by Bocu et al.

Immunohistochemistry is used to determine the relationship between endothelial cell-specific molecule-1 (ESM-1) expression and Renal Cell Cancer (RCC) prognosis. ESM-1 immunoreactivity (IR) scores were measured in appropriate renal tumoral tissue samples from 153 RCC patients in this retrospective analysis of prospectively collected data. Patients pathologically diagnosed with clear cell RCC (ccRCC), papillary RCC (pRCC), and chromophobe RCC (chRCC) had their mean ESM-1 IR scores calculated. 

The log-rank test was used to evaluate progression-free survival and overall survival according to ESM-1 IR scores. Survival rates were calculated using the Kaplan-Meier method. In the ccRCC group, those with local invasion had significantly higher mean ESM-1 IR scores than those without (P = 0.014). Patients with metastatic ccRCC had a considerably higher mean ESM-1 IR score than those with non-metastatic ccRCC (P<0.001). Regardless of RCC subtype, the mean ESM-1 IR score for clinical stage 1 tumor was 3.82 ±  1.98, 4.87 ±  1.74 for clinical stage 2, 5.88 ±  2 for clinical stage 3, and 6.60 ±  2.23 for clinical stage 4. Patients with metastatic ccRCC had a significantly higher mean ESM-1 IR score than those with non-metastatic ccRCC (P<0.001). 

This study’s patients were followed for an average of 71 months (1–120 months). It has been demonstrated that the 10-year overall survival and disease-free survival rates are lower the higher the ESM-1 IR score (P = 0.026, P = 0.005). ESM-1 immunohistochemical expression may be a promising biomarker for prognosis in RCC. There are currently available prognostic scoring systems for patients with localized and metastatic RCC. Incorporating ESM-1 expression in RCC into these existing predictive scoring systems could improve these models and enhance the quality of oncologic care provided to RCC patients.

Source: sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1078143923000935