Abstract
Clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC) is the most prevalent kidney cancer worldwide, and appropriate cancer biomarkers facilitate early diagnosis, treatment, and prognosis prediction in cancer management. However, an accurate biomarker for ccRCC is lacking. This study identified 356 differentially expressed genes in ccRCC tissues compared with normal kidney tissues by integrative analysis of eight ccRCC datasets. Enrichment analysis of the differentially expressed genes unveiled improved adaptation to hypoxia and metabolic reprogramming of the tumor cells. Aldehyde oxidase 1 (AOX1) gene was identified as a biomarker for ccRCC among all the differentially expressed genes. ccRCC tissues expressed significantly lower AOX1 than normal kidney tissues, which was further validated by immunohistochemistry at the protein level and The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) data mining at the mRNA level. Higher AOX1 expression predicted better overall survival in ccRCC patients. Furthermore, AOX1 DNA copy number deletion and hypermethylation were negatively correlated with AOX1 expression, which might be the potential mechanism for its dysregulation in ccRCC. Finally, we illustrated that the effect of AOX1 as a tumor suppressor gene is not restricted to ccRCC but universally exists in many other cancer types. Hence, AOX1 may act as a potential prognostic biomarker and therapeutic target for ccRCC.