title: Human leukocyte antigen class I down-regulation in muscle-invasive bladder cancer: its association with clinical characteristics and survival after cystectomy.
abstract: Using a novel monoclonal anti-pan human leukocyte antigen (HLA) class I heavy chain antibody (EMR 8-5) reacting with paraffin-embedded sections, we examined the prognostic significance of HLA class I molecules in muscle-invasive bladder cancer patients who underwent radical cystectomy. Immunohistochemical staining for HLA class I molecules with monoclonal antibody EMR 8-5 was performed on specimens from 65 clinically muscle-invasive bladder cancer patients who underwent radical cystectomy and pelvic lymph node dissection without neoadjuvant chemotherapy. We analyzed the clinicopathological and prognostic significance of HLA class I expression. Immunohistochemical analysis revealed HLA class I down-regulation in 22 (33.8%) invasive bladder cancers. This down-regulation had no correlation with clinicopathological parameters such as pathologic stage, nodal status, and grade. The recurrence-free survival of patients with HLA class I-positive tumors was significantly better than that of those with down-regulation (log rank, P = 0.0337). Multivariate analysis revealed that HLA class I expression was a significant factor influencing the recurrence-free survival of bladder cancer patients after cystectomy (P = 0.0155). Our data demonstrate that HLA class I down-regulation in tumor cells was clearly observed in about one-third of the patients. HLA class I expression could be a prognostic marker for muscle-invasive bladder cancer patients after cystectomy.
authors.affiliation: Department of Urology, Sapporo Medical University School of Medicine, Sapporo, Japan. ichiya@sapmed.ac.jp
authors.forename: Ichiya
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Homma
authors.forename: Hiroshi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Kitamura
authors.forename: Toshihiko
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Torigoe
authors.forename: Toshiaki
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Tanaka
authors.forename: Eiji
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Sato
authors.forename: Yoshihiko
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Hirohashi
authors.forename: Naoya
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Masumori
authors.forename: Noriyuki
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Sato
authors.forename: Taiji
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Tsukamoto
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D015653:Cystectomy; D015536:Down-Regulation; D005260:Female; D005805:Genes, MHC Class I; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009361:Neoplasm Invasiveness; D013602:T-Lymphocytes, Cytotoxic / Q000276:immunology; D001749:Urinary Bladder Neoplasms / Q000276:immunology* / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery