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BMI-1 Expression is Inversely Correlated with the Grading of Renal Clear Cell Carcinoma

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Pathology & Oncology Research

Abstract

BMI-1 regulates cell proliferation and differentiation, is involved in stem cell maintenance and can act as an oncogene. We investigated BMI-1 expression in healthy normal kidney and in 77 renal tumours by immunohistochemistry, and correlated it with tumour differentiation. BMI-1 could regularly be demonstrated in distal tubules and in Bowman’s capsule, whereas it was mostly lacking in proximal tubules, indicating that it may rather be a differentiation marker of different renal cell populations than a stem cell marker. In contrast to previous studies demonstrating a correlation between BMI-1 expression and malignancy, we showed that its expression was inversely correlated with the differentiation grade of clear cell carcinoma. Furthermore, despite their different biologies, BMI-1 was strongly expressed in both papillary carcinomas and oncocytomas. Thus, in renal clear cell carcinomas BMI-1 is rather a differentiation marker lost in carcinomas with high malignancy than an oncogene involved in tumour progression.

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Abbreviations

PcG:

polycomb group

CCRCC:

clear cell renal cell carcinoma

PRCC:

papillary renal cell carcinoma

CRCC:

chromophobe renal cell carcinoma

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Acknowledgements

We wish to thank Heidemarie Rossiter for critically reading the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Clinical Pathology, Medical University of Vienna, Währinger Gürtel 18-20, 1097, Vienna, Austria

    Nicolas Kozakowski, Afschin Soleiman & Johannes Pammer

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  1. Nicolas Kozakowski
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  2. Afschin Soleiman
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  3. Johannes Pammer
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Correspondence to Johannes Pammer.

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Kozakowski, N., Soleiman, A. & Pammer, J. BMI-1 Expression is Inversely Correlated with the Grading of Renal Clear Cell Carcinoma. Pathol. Oncol. Res. 14, 9–13 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12253-008-9006-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12253-008-9006-3

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