title: Clinical significance of the reduction of UT-B expression in urothelial carcinoma of the bladder.
abstract: Urea transporter B (UT-B) is a membrane protein and plays an important role in regulating urea concentration in bladder urothelial cells. It has been reported that UT-B gene mutations were related to bladder carcinogenesis, and UT-B deletion could induce DNA damage and apoptosis in bladder urothelium. However, the functions and clinical significance of UT-B in human bladder cancer remain unknown. The most common type of bladder cancer is urothelial carcinoma (UC). We hypothesized that UT-B expression was related to bladder UC progress. In this study, UT-B was detected using immunohistochemistry in 52 paraffin-embedded specimens of bladder UC and 10 normal urothelium specimens. The results showed that UT-B protein expression in UC tumor cells was significantly lower as compared with normal urothelial cells (P = 0.021). UT-B protein expression was significantly reduced with increasing histological grade (P = 0.010). UT-B protein expression in muscle-invasive stage was significantly lower than in non-muscle-invasive stage (P = 0.014). Taken together, our data suggest that the reduction or loss of UT-B expression may be related to the incidence, progression and invasiveness of bladder UC. UT-B may be a novel diagnostic or prognostic biomarker, as well as a potential therapeutic target in UC of the bladder.
authors.affiliation: Department of Immunology, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Beihua University, Jilin, China.
authors.forename: Chun
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Department of Immunology, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Beihua University, Jilin, China.
authors.forename: Haogang
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Xue
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, The General Hospital of CNPC in Jilin, Jilin, China.
authors.forename: Yanming
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Lei
authors.affiliation: Department of Immunology, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Beihua University, Jilin, China.
authors.forename: Jianqiang
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zhu
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacology, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Peking University, and State Key Laboratory of Natural and Biomimetic Drugs, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Baoxue
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.affiliation: Department of Immunology, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Beihua University, Jilin, China. Electronic address: bhdxgaixiaodong@126.com.
authors.forename: Xiaodong
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Gai
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000032:analysis*; D002277:Carcinoma / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D015536:Down-Regulation; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D008297:Male; D026901:Membrane Transport Proteins / Q000032:analysis*; D008875:Middle Aged; D060787:Neoplasm Grading; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D001749:Urinary Bladder Neoplasms / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery; D019459:Urothelium / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000473:pathology; D000096982:Urea Transporters
chemical_list: D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; D026901:Membrane Transport Proteins; D000096982:Urea Transporters
keywords: Bladder cancer; Immunohistochemistry; Urea transporter B; Urothelial carcinoma