High expression of CD73 contributes to poor prognosis of clear-cell renal cell carcinoma by promoting cell proliferation and migration.

Background: Accumulating data have shown that high expression of CD73 is associated with poor prognosis in various cancers, however the role and significance of CD73 in clear-cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC) still remain unclear. The present study aims to evaluate the prognostic significance of CD73 in ccRCC and explore the potential function in vitro and in vivo. Methods: Firstly, the expression of CD73 in ccRCC was detected using clinical tissues and verified using TCGA and GEO data. Immunohistochemistry and Kaplan-Meier test were performed for survival analysis. Furthermore, knockdown or overexpression of CD73 was conducted by lentivirus transfection in ccRCC cells. MTT assay, colony formation assay, wound healing assay, transwell assay and xenograft assay were performed in vitro or in vivo. Results: Our results showed that CD73 was highly expressed in ccRCC, and high expression of CD73 was negatively correlated with prognosis. In addition, CD73 promoted cell proliferation and migration in vitro and in vivo. Our data also showed that CD73 played both enzymatic and non-enzymatic functions in the regulation of cell proliferation and migration in ccRCC. Conclusions: These findings suggested that CD73 might promote the growth of ccRCC and contribute to poor prognosis. Taken together, CD73 may be a potential therapeutic target in ccRCC.