Bioinformatics Analysis Suggests the Combined Expression of AURKB and KIF18B Being an Important Event in the Development of Clear Cell Renal Cell Carcinoma

Clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC) is the most common type of renal cell carcinoma with high metastatic rate and high mortality rate, needing to find potential therapeutic targets and develop new therapy methods. The bioinformatics analysis was used in this study to find the targets. Firstly, the expression profile of ccRCC obtained from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database and GSE53757 dataset were used to identify the significant up-regulated genes. IL20RB, AURKB and KIF18B with the top efficiency of capable of diagnosis ccRCC from para cancer tissue, were over-expressed in ccRCC samples, and expressed increasedly with the development of ccRCC. There was the closest correlation between AURKB and KIF18B in these three over-expressed genes. AURKB (high) or KIF18B (high) were all significantly correlated with higher T, N, M stage, G grade and shorter overall survival (OS) of ccRCC patients. Furthermore, the ccRCC patients with AURKB (high) + KIF18B (high) showed worse clinical characteristics and prognosis. Multivariate COX regression analysis indicated AURKB (high) and KIF18B (high) were all the independent prognostic risk factor without considering the interaction of AURKB and KIF18B. Moreover, considering the combination of each other, only AURKB (high) + KIF18B (high) expression was an independent prognostic risk factor for ccRCC patients, but not other situations. Collectively, AURKB was closely associated with KIF18B, and the combined expression of AURKB and KIF18B may be of great significance in ccRCC.