Abstract
There is no adequate serum prognostic and predictive biomarker to identify the activity of renal cell carcinoma (RCC). We investigate the correlation of serum hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) levels with clinical parameters in untreated RCC patients. We measured the serum levels of HGF in 44 consecutive patients with untreated RCC and 45 healthy controls using the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Patients with RCC had significantly higher serum HGF concentrations than healthy subjects (p<0.0001). Serum HGF levels significantly correlated with tumor stage, histological grade, and prognosis of RCC. In patients with high stage and/or grade 2 RCC, higher serum HGF group had significantly worse cause specific survival (p<0.03 and p=0.0086).
