Decreased expression of SLC16A12 mRNA predicts poor prognosis of patients with clear cell renal cell carcinoma

Solute carrier family 16, member 12 (SLC16A12) is a highly -expressed protein in the kidney and has been reported to participate in the transport of creatine. However, the clinical values of SLC16A12 in clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC) have not been explored. SLC16A12 RNA-seq data and clinical information were downloaded from the Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database. We compared its expression in ccRCC and paracancerous tissues, then the result was further validated with our cohort. The impact on the clinical significance of SLC16A12 in ccRCC was also assessed. Compared with paracancerous tissue, SLC16A12 was significantly downregulated in the tumor tissues both in mRNA and protein level. In TCGA cohort, SLC16A12 mRNA expression was associated with several clinicopathological parameters, including T stages (P<.001), M stages (P=.009), TNM stages (P<.001), and differentiated grades (P=.001). Kaplan-Meier analysis showed that the overall survival of patients with low expression of SLC16A12 mRNA was significantly worse than that of patients with high expression (P<.001). Furthermore, both univariate (HR=0.371, 95% CI: 0.269-0.513, P<.001) and multivariate (HR=0.485, 95% CI: 0.297-0.793, P=.004) Cox regression analyses suggested that low expression of SLC16A12 mRNA was an independent prognostic factor for patients with ccRCC. Overall, we uncovered that decreased expression of SLC16A12 is a poor prognostic factor for patients with ccRCC. SLC16A12 might be a potential biomarker and therapeutic target in ccRCC.