Expression of CUL1 correlates with tumour-grade and recurrence in urothelial carcinoma.
BACKGROUND
Urothelial carcinoma (UC) is a major health problem in the general population. We aimed to evaluate the function of Cullin-1 (CUL1) and unravel its underlying molecular mechanism to develop novel treatment options equivalent to UC.


METHODS
To evaluate the function of CUL1, a group of 132 pairs of UC patients were recruited for this study. UC tissues and their adjacent noncancerous tissues (NCTs) were collected between 2008 and 2009. We used immunohistochemistry to analyse the correlation between CUL1 expression and clinicopathologic variables and patient survival.


RESULTS
CUL1 was dramatically overexpressed in high-grade UC tissues compared with low-grade UC tissues. CUL1 up-regulation in recurrence cases in comparison with the non-recurrence cases. CUL1 expression upregulated in human UC tissues versus NCTs. CUL1 protein expression associated with androgen receptor.


CONCLUSIONS
Our results demonstrate that increased CUL1 expression is significantly correlated with poor prognosis of patients with UC. CUL1 might be an important marker and a therapeutic target for UC.
Department of Urology, Shanghai Tenth People's Hospital, Tongji University, Shanghai, China.
Shi-Yu
SY
Mao
Department of Urology, Shanghai Tenth People's Hospital, Tongji University, Shanghai, China.
Da-Bo
DB
Xiong
Department of Urology, Shanghai Tenth People's Hospital, Tongji University, Shanghai, China.
Tian-Bao
TB
Huang
Department of Urology, Shanghai Tenth People's Hospital, Tongji University, Shanghai, China.
Jun-Hua
JH
Zheng
Department of Urology, Shanghai Tenth People's Hospital, Tongji University, Shanghai, China.
Xu-Dong
XD
Yao
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002295:Carcinoma, Transitional Cell / Q000235:genetics* / Q000473:pathology*; D044842:Cullin Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D005260:Female; D015972:Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D060787:Neoplasm Grading; D001749:Urinary Bladder Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics* / Q000473:pathology*
C100318:Cullin 1; D044842:Cullin Proteins

CUL1; recurrence; tumour grade; urothelial carcinoma