Osteopontin overexpression predicts poor prognosis of upper urinary tract urothelial carcinoma.
OBJECTIVE
Studies indicate overexpression of osteopontin (OPN) promotes carcinogenesis, progression and metastasis of multiple human malignancies. However, the function of OPN in urothelial carcinoma (UC) of the upper urinary tract has not been investigated. This study evaluates the clinical significance of OPN expression in upper urinary tract UC.


METHODS
One hundred and ten cases (median age = 64, range = 24-84 years) of renal pelvic or ureter UC were retrospectively reviewed in this study. OPN expression were evaluated by immunohistochemistry staining on paraffin-embedded section of the tumor and scored by two qualified pathologists.


RESULTS
High OPN expression was found in 54 (49.1%) of the cancer specimens. OPN expression was not significantly correlated with tumor T stage (P = 0.761), N stage (P = 0.339) or grade (P = 0.349). However, OPN expression was differently expressed by gender (P = 0.012) and cancer location (P = 0.026). OPN expression did not correlate with bladder recurrence-free (P = 0.661) or extra-bladder recurrence-free (P = 0.787) survival, but high OPN expression was a significant predictor for cancer-specific survival (P = 0.014).


CONCLUSIONS
Our findings indicated that higher OPN expression is a potential biomarker to predict patient survival. Further study is necessary to investigate the role of OPN in the carcinogenesis of upper urinary tract UC.
Ke
Hung-Lung
HL
Department of Urology, Kaohsiung Medical University Hospital, Kaohsiung Medical University, Kaohsiung, Taiwan.
Chang
Lin-Li
LL
Yang
Sheau-Fang
SF
Lin
Hui-Hui
HH
Li
Ching-Chia
CC
Wu
Deng-Chyang
DC
Wu
Wen-Jeng
WJ
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000032:analysis*; D002295:Carcinoma, Transitional Cell / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology; D018572:Disease-Free Survival; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D053208:Kaplan-Meier Estimate; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D060787:Neoplasm Grading; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D053495:Osteopontin / Q000032:analysis / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D011379:Prognosis; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D001749:Urinary Bladder Neoplasms / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology; D055815:Young Adult
D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; D053495:Osteopontin