IMP3 and CD44 protein expression in recurrent bladder urothelial carcinoma / 中国肿瘤临床

ABSTRACT

Objective:To evaluate the expression of IMP3 and CD44 proteins in recurrent urothelial carcinoma (UC) and to deter-mine the correlation between the two proteins. Methods: Data from transurethral resection of bladder (TURB) cancer cases between January 2002 and December 2012 were reviewed. Of the 54 UC recurrent cases in this study, one group of 25 had experienced recur-rence within 6 months after surgery, and the other group of 29 had their first recurrence after more than 3 years. IMP3 and CD44 immu-noreactivities were increased, which correlated with the clinicopathologic parameters. The relationship between IMP3 and CD44 pro-tein expressions was also explored. Results:Six of the 25 short-term recurrent UC cases were tested positive for IMP3 and all belonged to high-grade UC. Among the 29 long-term recurrent patients, only one case of low-grade UC tested positive for IMP3. IMP3 expres-sion rate [24%(6/25)] and intensity [weak staining at 16%(4/25) and strong staining at 8%(2/25)] were higher in the short-term recur-rent group than those in the long-term group, which had an expression rate of 3.45% (1/29) and intensity rates for weak staining at 3.45%(1/29) and without strong staining (0/29). No difference was observed in the CD44 expression between the two groups. In addi-tion, the high expression of IMP3 correlated with higher tumor stage and grade, whereas the CD44 expression tended to be inversely correlated with the tumor grade in recurrent UC patients. Furthermore, no correlation existed between the expression of IMP3 and CD44 proteins in the bladder carcinoma specimens. Conclusion:IMP3 exhibited a significantly higher expression rate in short-term re-current UC specimens than in the long-term recurrent cases. Therefore, IMP3 could be used as a novel marker, together with the other factors including tumor stage and grade, for predicting the high risk of short-term recurrence in UC patients who underwent TURB.