Background and aim: Tripartite motif containing (TRIM) family protein has been involved in multiple pathogenesis of cancers. TRIM2 is a member of the family, and its role in clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC) remains to be unclarifid. Here, we showed the clinical value and biological role of TRIM2 in ccRCC.
Methods: ROC curves analyzed the clinicopathological parameters, Kaplan-Meier survival analysis determined the correlation of OS and DFS time, multivariate analysis demonstrated the prognostic indicator in overall survival and disease-free survival of ccRCC with TRIM2 expression in The Cancer Genome Atlas Kidney Clear Cell Carcinoma (TCGA-KIRC) database. Western blotting and immunohistochemistry were used to check the level of TRIM2 expression. Gain-of-function assay by exogenous overexpression of TRIM2 studied the biological role of TRIM2 in renal cell carcinoma cells.
Results: TRIM2 expression was associated with various clinicopathologicalfactors and lower TRIM2 expression was interrelated to a poor prognosis. The levels of TRIM2 expression were also scanty in ccRCC tissues and renal cancer cell lines than in normal control. The biological role of TRIM2 in ccRCC was identifid by bioinformatics analysis and functional analysis. Exogenous overexpression of TRIM2 with the gain-of-function assay in renal cell carcinoma cells showed that the cell proliferation, migration, and invasion were signifiantly suppressed. 
Conclusion: These results showed that TRIM2 acted as an antitumor gene and a specifi prognostic indicator for patients with ccRCC, which indicated that positive modulation of TRIM2 might be a novel treatment strategy for ccRCC.
Keywords: TRIM2, ccRCC, tumor suppressor, prognostic indicator