E-cadherin immunoreactivity correlates with recurrence and progression of minimally invasive transitional cell carcinomas of the urinary bladder.
E-cadherin is a transmembrane glycoprotein involved in intercellular adhesion. Abnormal (i.e., lost or decreased) expression of E-cadherin has been linked to invasiveness of many malignant tumors, including bladder carcinomas. To our knowledge, studies analyzing the prognostic impact of E-cadherin immunoreactivity especially in minimally invasive transitional cell bladder carcinomas (stage pT1) have not been published in the Anglo-American literature. In the present study, we immunostained 69 cases of pT1 transitional cell bladder carcinomas for E-cadherin using multitissue arrays. The results were compared with p53 and Ki-67 antigen immunoreactivity, clinicopathological parameters and the patients' outcome. E-cadherin immunoreactivity, which was found abnormal in 42% of cases, correlated significantly with substage (pT1a/pT1b; p=0.029) and p53 index (p=0.041) and tendentiously with Ki-67 antigen index (p=0.089) and age (p=0.07). By univariate Cox regression analysis, abnormal E-cadherin immunostaining correlated significantly (p=0.005) with early tumor recurrence, but not with early tumor progression (p=0.168). In a multivariate analysis, this parameter was identified, besides tumor grade (p=0.002), as an independent predictor of recurrence-free survival (p=0.016). Concerning tumor progression, age was identified as the single independent prognostic parameter (p=0.041), but E-cadherin immunoreactivity displayed a tendentious independent predictive value in this respect (p=0.071). We conclude from our data that immunohistochemical E-cadherin staining may provide additional prognostic information in patients with pT1 bladder carcinomas.
Mahnken
Anne
A
Institute of Pathology, University of Schleswig-Holstein (Campus Lübeck), Ratzeburger Allee 160, D-23538 Lübeck, Germany.
Kausch
Ingo
I
Feller
Alfred C
AC
Krüger
Stefan
S
D000368:Aged; D000951:Antigens, Neoplasm / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D015820:Cadherins / Q000096:biosynthesis* / Q000378:metabolism; D002295:Carcinoma, Transitional Cell / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology*; D015331:Cohort Studies; D003593:Cytoplasm / Q000378:metabolism; D018450:Disease Progression; D018572:Disease-Free Survival; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D019394:Ki-67 Antigen / Q000096:biosynthesis; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D011379:Prognosis; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models; D012008:Recurrence; D013997:Time Factors; D016159:Tumor Suppressor Protein p53 / Q000378:metabolism; D001749:Urinary Bladder Neoplasms / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology*
D000951:Antigens, Neoplasm; D015820:Cadherins; D019394:Ki-67 Antigen; D016159:Tumor Suppressor Protein p53