Glucose-regulated protein 78 expression in urothelial carcinoma of the upper urinary tract.
OBJECTIVE
To examine glucose-regulated protein 78 (GRP78; a major molecular chaperone at the endoplasmic reticulum, strongly expressed in several tumours) expression in urothelial carcinoma (UC) of the upper urinary tract (UUT) and to evaluate the diagnostic and progressive importance of GRP78 expression in UC-UUT.


METHODS
We investigated GRP78 expression (using immunohistochemistry) in 126 UC-UUTs to assess its relevance to progression. GRP78 overexpression was recognised in 23 (18.3%) of tumour samples.


RESULTS
There was no association between GRP78 overexpression and clinicopathological findings, except for an association with low grade in invasive tumours. GRP78 overexpression significantly improved the disease-free survival rate in all patients (according to univariate and multivariate analyses), but did not alter the overall survival rate.


CONCLUSIONS
The detection of GRP78 overexpression would appear to provide valuable information for the prognosis of UC-UUT.
Uematsu
Kenji
K
Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, National Defense Medical College, National Defense Medical College Hospital, Tokorozawa, Japan.
Ogata
Sho
S
Nakanishi
Kuniaki
K
Hiroi
Sadayuki
S
Tominaga
Susumu
S
Aida
Shinsuke
S
Kawai
Toshiaki
T
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000378:metabolism*; D018572:Disease-Free Survival; D000091342:Endoplasmic Reticulum Chaperone BiP; D005260:Female; D006360:Heat-Shock Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011379:Prognosis; D015996:Survival Rate; D014571:Urologic Neoplasms / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology
D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; D000091342:Endoplasmic Reticulum Chaperone BiP; C000717247:HSPA5 protein, human; D006360:Heat-Shock Proteins