title: Circulating angiostatin, bFGF, and Tie2/TEK levels and their prognostic impact in bladder cancer.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To assess the role and prognostic significance of angiostatin, basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF), and tyrosine endothelial kinase (TEK/Tie2) in transitional cell bladder carcinoma.
  
  
  METHODS
  Angiostatin, bFGF, and TEK serum concentrations were measured in 82 bladder cancer patients and 20 age-matched healthy controls using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Results were compared with clinicopathologic and follow-up data with the Mann-Whitney U test and Kaplan-Meier, univariate and multivariate Cox regression analyses.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We found significantly decreased angiostatin and TEK serum levels and mildly elevated bFGF concentrations in samples of bladder cancer patients compared with controls (P < .001, P < .001, and P = .083, respectively). Furthermore, high TEK serum levels were correlated with poor disease-specific and metastasis-free survival in muscle-invasive bladder cancer (P = .013, P = .018), whereas angiostatin and bFGF concentrations did not show any correlation with patients' prognosis. Multivariate analysis revealed high TEK levels (<1.60 ng/mL) as borderline significant independent risk-factor of disease-specific survival (HR 1.83, 95% CI 0.97-3.44, P = .061) and metastasis-free survival (HR 2.65, 95% CI 0.93-7.55, P = .069).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The characteristic differences in the circulating levels of angiostatin, TEK, and bFGF between patients and controls, suggest the presence of a tumor-induced proangiogenic milieu in bladder cancer. Serum TEK levels may contribute to a more reliable preoperative risk stratification in muscle-invasive bladder cancer and therefore may help to optimize therapeutic decisions.
authors.affiliation: Department of Urology, University of Duisburg-Essen, Germany. sztibusz@gmail.com
authors.forename: Tibor
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Szarvas
authors.forename: Tobias
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Jäger
authors.forename: Viktoria
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Laszlo
authors.forename: Gero
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Kramer
authors.forename: H Christoph
authors.initials: HC
authors.lastname: Klingler
authors.forename: Frank
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: vom Dorp
authors.forename: Imre
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Romics
authors.forename: Süleyman
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ergün
authors.forename: Herbert
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Rübben
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D005260:Female; D016222:Fibroblast Growth Factor 2 / Q000097:blood*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011379:Prognosis; D042787:Receptor, TIE-2 / Q000097:blood*; D001749:Urinary Bladder Neoplasms / Q000097:blood*
chemical_list: D016222:Fibroblast Growth Factor 2; D042787:Receptor, TIE-2