Background Vasohibin-1 (VASH1) is an endothelium-produced angiogenesis inhibitor. Renal cell carcinoma is highly vascularised, but the significance of endogenous VASH1 in renal cell carcinoma has not been defined.

Aims To identify VASH1 expression and its possible relationship with various clinicopathological factors and prognosis in renal cell carcinoma.

Methods A retrospective analysis of 122 tumours obtained from 118 consecutive patients with renal cell carcinoma was performed. The expression patterns of VASH1, CD31, vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and VEGF receptor type 2 (VEGFR2) were examined immunohistochemically and their relationships with clinicopathological factors were analysed.

Results Microvessel density, VASH1 and VEGFR2 expression were significantly higher in clear cell carcinoma than in other subtypes. The VEGF expression pattern differed significantly between clear cell carcinoma and other histological subtypes. VASH1, pT factor and TNM stage were significantly associated with disease-free survival (p=0.030, p = 0.0012 and p = 0.0018, respectively). Cox models of multivariable disease-free survival analyses indicated that VASH1 and stage are independent prognostic factors (p=0.019 and p = 0.024).

Conclusions VASH1 expression may be useful for estimating the prognosis of renal cell carcinoma. Further studies of the role of VASH1 in renal cell carcinoma involving larger sample sizes are warranted.