Discovery of the expression of HK2 gene in clear cell carcinoma of the kidney and its clinical significance based on database analysis

Objective To analyze the association between hexokinase 2 (HK2) gene expression and clinical pathological characteristics in renal clear cell carcinoma using database and bioinformatics methods. Methods Oncomine database was used to analyze the most significant differentially expressed genes between renal clear cell carcinoma and non-kidney tissue. The expression levels of mRNA and protein were detected by GPEIA and The Human Protein Atlas database. Correlation of HK2 expression level between clinicopathological features and prognosis of renal clear cell carcinoma was analyzed using LinkedOmics and KM-plotter databases, respectively. The STRING database was used to predict the potential protein interaction mechanism. Results The most significant difference protein in renal clear cell carcinoma, i.e. HK2, was found, which was highly expressed in renal clear cell carcinoma tissues, and positively correlated with pathological stage, T stage and N stage of renal cell carcinoma (all P<0.05). The overall survival rate of the renal clear cell carcinoma patients with high expression of HK2 was significantly lower than that of the patients with low expression (P<0.05). Conclusions High expression of HK2 gene may be associated with pathological staging, high T stage, high N stage, and poor prognosis of renal clear cell carcinoma. Key words: Renal clear cell carcinoma; Hexokinase 2; Bioinformatics