Prognostic significance of platelet-derived endothelial cell growth factor/thymidine phosphorylase expression in stage pT1 G3 bladder cancer.
BACKGROUND
The management of patients with pT1 G3 bladder cancer remains controversial because of the high incidence of recurrence with muscle invasion. Thymidine phosphorylase (dThdPase) is identical to platelet-derived endothelial cell growth factor (PD-ECGF) and has angiogenic activity. The aim of this study was to determine whether the expression of PD-ECGF/dThdPase in bladder cancer tissue was associated with tumor progression and recurrence in patients with pT1 G3 bladder cancer.


METHODS
Fifteen patients who were pathologically diagnosed as having pT1 G3 transitional cell carcinoma of the bladder were treated with transurethral resection. Sections of paraffin-embedded bladder tissue were immunohistochemically stained with either mAb654-1, a monoclonal antibody against human PD-ECGF or anti-CD34 monoclonal antibody, respectively. When more than 10% of tumor cells were positively stained with mAb654-1, this section was defined as positive in this study.


RESULTS
Eight of 15 sections from patients with pT1 G3 bladder cancer (53%) were positive with PD-ECGF/dThdPase. During follow up, patients in the negative group had no disease progression and only two patients had local recurrence. In contrast, seven of eight positives had recurrence (P < 0.05) and progression was also observed in four recurrent patients. However, there was no statistical relationship between PD-ECGF and CD34 expression in any of the patients.


CONCLUSIONS
The expression of PD-ECGF/dThdPase appears to be an important prognostic factor of pT1 G3 bladder cancer and did not show any significant relationship between PD-ECGF/dThdPase expression and vascular density.
Li
S
S
Department of Urology, Nagasaki University School of Medicine, Nagasaki, Japan.
Nomata
K
K
Sawase
K
K
Noguchi
M
M
Kanda
S
S
Kanetake
H
H
D000368:Aged; D002295:Carcinoma, Transitional Cell / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D018450:Disease Progression; D016228:Endothelial Growth Factors / Q000378:metabolism*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009389:Neovascularization, Pathologic; D010982:Platelet-Derived Growth Factor / Q000378:metabolism*; D011379:Prognosis; D013939:Thymidine Phosphorylase / Q000378:metabolism*; D001749:Urinary Bladder Neoplasms / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology
D016228:Endothelial Growth Factors; D010982:Platelet-Derived Growth Factor; D013939:Thymidine Phosphorylase