Poor prognosis of bladder cancer patients with occult lymph node metastases treated with neoadjuvant chemotherapy

A Predictive Nomogram for Development of Lymph Node Metastasis in Muscle-Invasive Bladder Cancer Following Neoadjuvant Therapy

Purpose

Pelvic lymph node metastases (ypN+) after multiagent neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) is a poor prognostic sign in nonmetastatic muscle-invasive bladder cancer (nmMIBC). We sought to create a nomogram predicting probability of ypN+ after NAC for cN0 nmMIBC and determine association with overall survival (OS).

Methods and Materials

We reviewed the National Cancer Database for patients with cT2-4N0M0 urothelial carcinoma of the bladder receiving multiagent NAC and surgery from 2004 to 2020. Following a data split, univariate logistic regression identified variables associated with ypN+ at P < .05. Eligible variables were used for multivariate logistic regression and nomogram generation. A threshold for 95% sensitivity defined high- and low-risk groups for ypN+. Fine-Gray models assessed ypN+ risk group and OS, accounting for competing risks of surgical mortality.

Results

A total of 6194 patients were identified with a median follow-up of 39.5 months (interquartile range [IQR], 20.5-67.2 months). Most patients had high-grade (97.7%) cT2 disease (70.8%) with nonpapillary urothelial histology (67.3%) and initiated NAC at a median of 41.0 days after diagnosis (IQR, 28.0-59.0 days).The nomogram included age in decades (odds ratio [OR], 0.94; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.87-1.03; P = .172), weeks from diagnosis to NAC (OR, 1.02; 95% CI, 1.01-1.04; P = .004), nonpapillary histology (OR, 1.17; 95% CI, 0.99-1.39; P = .068), and clinical T-stage. Within the testing cohort, ypN+ was found in 392 (22.8%) high-risk and 12 (8.0%) low-risk patients (P < .001), with median OS of 36.1 and 74.0 months, respectively (P < .001). High-risk patients had worse OS despite competing risks of 30-day (subdistribution hazard ratio [SHR], 1.80; 95% CI, 1.49-2.18; P < .001) and 90-day surgical mortality (SHR, 1.68; 95% CI, 1.39-2.04; P < .001).

Conclusions

This is the first study to provide a tool for predicting ypN+ and prognosticate worse OS in primarily high-grade nmMIBC and could select patients for alternative neoadjuvant therapy and facilitate future study.

A case of neoadjuvant chemotherapy-resistant muscle-invasive bladder cancer that markedly responded to pembrolizumab before conversion radical cystectomy

Introduction

Recently, perioperative use of immune checkpoint inhibitors has improved the prognosis of muscle-invasive bladder cancer. It is unclear whether radical cystectomy or systemic pembrolizumab is the optimal next treatment in patients with muscle-invasive bladder cancer and progressive disease in the pelvic lymph node following neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC).

Case presentation

A 62-year-old woman with cT3N0M0 bladder cancer and high programmed death-ligand 1 expression developed solitary obturator lymph node metastasis following 5 cycles of neoadjuvant chemotherapy. Six subsequent cycles of pembrolizumab shrank the lymph node significantly, and conversion radical cystectomy was planned. Pathologically, only carcinoma in situ around the scar of transurethral resection of bladder tumor remained in the primary tumor, and the accumulation of foamy macrophages and fibrosis without viable tumor cells was observed in the dissected lymph node. Eighteen months passed without a recurrence following radical cystectomy.

Conclusion

Pembrolizumab administration before radical cystectomy achieved a good response in a patient with obturator lymph node metastasis following neoadjuvant chemotherapy.

Extended pelvic lymph node dissection in muscle invasive bladder cancer

PURPOSE OF REVIEW

Bilateral pelvic lymph node dissection (PLND) at the time of radical cystectomy (RC) provides important staging information and oncologic benefit in patients with bladder cancer. The optimal extent of the PLND remains controversial. Our aim is to highlight nodal mapping studies and the data that guides optimization of both staging and oncologic outcomes. We then review contemporary randomized trials studying the extent of PLND.

RECENT FINDINGS

A recent randomized trial (RCT) powered for a 15% improvement in recurrence-free survival (RFS) of extended (e) over limited (l)PLND was completed but failed to identify this large difference in outcome. Concerns over study design limit the ability to interpret the oncologic results. Importantly, ePLND minimally changed surgical morbidity. An ongoing, similar RCT (SWOG S1011) powered to detect a 10% difference in RFS has completed accrual, but no published outcomes are available.

SUMMARY

RC and ePLND can provide cure in 33% of LN positive bladder cancer patients. Current data support a 5% improvement in RFS if ePLND is routinely used in MIBC patients. Two randomized trials powered to identify much larger (15 and 10%) improvements in RFS are unlikely to identify such an ambitious benefit by extending the PLND.

[Pathological pelvic lymph node involvement in muscle-invasive bladder cancer patients treated with radical cystectomy: A narrative review]

OBJECTIVE

To perform a narrative review of the contemporary literature on the diagnosis, prognosis and adjuvant management of muscle-invasive bladder cancer (MIBC) patients with pathological pelvic lymph node involvement (pN+) at radical cystectomy.

METHOD

A narrative review of the contemporary literature available on Medline was conducted to report studies evaluating the diagnosis, prognosis and/or adjuvant treatments for MIBC patients with pN+ disease at radical cystectomy.

RESULTS

Open or robotic extended pelvic lymph node dissection up to the crossing of the ureter with common iliac vessels can enhance the diagnosis of pN+ MIBC, especially using separate packages for the submission of a maximum number of lymph nodes. The main prognosis factors for pN+ patients are the number of positive and retrieved lymph nodes, lymph node density, extranodal extension as well as lymph node metastasis diameter. Adjuvant chemotherapy is likely to prolong overall survival in pN+ patients treated with radical cystectomy alone while adjuvant immunotherapy using nivolumab has been shown to decrease the risk of recurrence in all pN+ patients, especially those with ypN+ disease after neoadjuvant chemotherapy followed by radical cystectomy. However, few data are currently available on the role of adjuvant radiation therapy, which remains currently experimental for these patients.

CONCLUSION

Multiple parameters have been reported to impact the diagnosis and prognosis of patients with pN+ MIBC at radical cystectomy. Adjuvant management is currently based on chemotherapy and immunotherapy with preliminary data on radiation therapy.

Approaches to Clinical Complete Response after Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy in Muscle-Invasive Bladder Cancer: Possibilities and Limitations

In the surgical oncology field, the change from a past radical surgery to an organ preserving surgery is a big trend. In muscle-invasive bladder cancer treatment, neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) followed by radical cystectomy (RC) is the standard of care for muscle-invasive bladder cancer (MIBC) patients eligible for cisplatin. There is a growing interest in bladder preserving strategies after NAC because good oncologic outcome has been reported for pathologic complete response (pCR) patients after NAC, and many studies have continued to discuss whether bladder preservation treatment is possible for these patients. However, in actual clinical practice, decision-making should be determined according to clinical staging and there is a gap that cannot be ignored between clinical complete response (cCR) and pCR. Currently, there is a lack in a uniform approach to post-NAC restaging of MIBC and a standardized cCR definition. In this review, we clarify the gap between cCR and pCR at the current situation and focus on emerging strategies in bladder preservation in selected patients with MIBC who achieve cCR following NAC.

A tumor microenvironment preoperative nomogram for prediction of lymph node metastasis in bladder cancer

Background

Growing evidence suggests that tumor metastasis necessitates multi-step microenvironmental regulation. Lymph node metastasis (LNM) influences both pre- and post-operative bladder cancer (BLCA) treatment strategies. Given that current LNM diagnosis methods are still insufficient, we intend to investigate the microenvironmental changes in BLCA with and without LNM and develop a prediction model to confirm LNM status.

Method

"Estimation of Stromal and Immune cells in Malignant Tumors using Expression data" (ESTIMATE) algorithm was used to characterize the tumor microenvironment pattern of TCGA-BLCA cohort, and dimension reduction, feature selection, and StrLNM signature construction were accomplished using least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) regression. StrLNM signature was combined with the genomic mutation to establish an LNM nomogram by using multivariable logistic regression. The performance of the nomogram was evaluated in terms of calibration, discrimination, and clinical utility. The testing set from the TCGA-BLCA cohort was used for internal validation. Moreover, three independent cohorts were used for external validation, and BLCA patients from our cohort were also used for further validation.

Results

The StrLNM signature, consisting of 22 selected features, could accurately predict LNM status in the TCGA-BLCA cohort and several independent cohorts. The nomogram performed well in discriminating LNM status, with the area under curve (AUC) of 75.1% and 65.4% in training and testing datasets from the TCGA-BLCA cohort. Furthermore, the StrLNM nomogram demonstrated good calibration with p >0.05 in the Hosmer-Lemeshow goodness of fit test. Decision curve analysis (DCA) revealed that the StrLNM nomogram had a high potential for clinical utility. Additionally, 14 of 22 stably expressed genes were identified by survival analysis and confirmed by qPCR in BLCA patient samples in our cohort.

Conclusion

In summary, we developed a nomogram that included an StrLNM signature and facilitated the preoperative prediction of LNM status in BLCA patients.

Urothelial carcinoma of the bladder with isolated lymph node metastasis: Natural history and outcomes following surgical resection

INTRODUCTION

Although pathologic lymph node involvement carries a poor prognosis in patients with urothelial carcinoma of the bladder (UCB), a subset of patients may demonstrate durable survival following surgical resection. To this end, there are limited contemporary data describing the natural history of UCB in patients with isolated lymph node involvement (cN0pN+) following radical cystectomy (RC) with pelvic lymph node dissection (PLND). We therefore utilized a large, nationwide oncology dataset to examine the natural history and outcomes of cN0 pN+ UCB after surgical resection.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

We identified patients in the National Cancer Database (NCDB) with cN0 pN+ cM0 UCB from 2006 to 2015 treated with RC and PLND. The associations of baseline characteristics with all-cause mortality (ACM) were evaluated using Cox regression.

RESULTS

A total of 2,884 patients formed the study cohort, including 42% with pN1 and 58% with pN2-3 disease. Of these, 606 (21%) received multiagent neoadjuvant chemotherapy, while 1,172 (41%) received postoperative adjuvant chemotherapy. A median of 15 (IQR 9-23) LNs were removed during PLND. The 5- and 7-year OS for the entire cohort were 20% and 17%, respectively. Compared to the overall cohort, patients surviving ≤5 years had lower pN stage (59% vs. 42% pN1) and lower pT stage (41% vs. 22% ≤pT2). On multivariable analysis, higher pT stage (HR 2.85, 95% CI 1.52-5.36 for pT3, HR 3.27, 95% CI 1.73-6.18 for pT4 vs. pT0), higher pN stage (HR 1.17, 95% CI 1.05-1.31 for pN2-3 vs. pN1), and increasing LN density (HR 2.37, 95% CI 1.88-2.99) were most strongly associated with increased ACM, while receipt of adjuvant chemotherapy (HR 0.61, 95% CI 0.55-0.68) was associated with reduced ACM.

CONCLUSIONS

Although OS for patients with cN0 pN+ M0 UCB is poor, a subset of patients demonstrates durable long-term survival with 5- and 7-year OS of 20% and 17%, respectively. pT and pN stage represent important prognostic characteristics, while administration of adjuvant chemotherapy represents a potential therapeutic intervention associated with improved ACM.

Overexpression of ROCK1 promotes cancer cell proliferation and is associated with poor prognosis in human urothelial bladder cancer

Rho-associated protein kinase 1 (ROCK1) has been reported to be overexpressed in many types of tumors, but its role in urothelial bladder cancer is poorly understood. The study aims to investigate the role of ROCK1 in urothelial bladder cancer and explored the underlying mechanism. Protein and mRNA levels of ROCK1 were detected in 64 urothelial bladder cancer patients using western blot, immunohistochemistry and qRT-PCR. Relationships between ROCK1 expression and clinicopathological factors and survival rate were analyzed. ROCK1 was silenced by shRNA in multiple urothelial bladder cancer cells to explore its function and underlying mechanism. ROCK1 expression was significantly increased in tumor tissues compared with the paired adjacent healthy tissues of patients. Higher ROCK1 expression of tumor tissues positively correlated with poor prognosis of patients (p = 0.0435). ROCK1 silence significantly inhibited cell proliferation and colony formation, and enhanced activation of apoptotic pathway in urothelial bladder cancer cells. High ROCK1 expression predicts poor prognosis of urothelial bladder cancer. ROCK1 silence inhibit cell proliferation and promote apoptosis, which may be of value as a therapeutic target for bladder cancer treatment.

Impact of preoperative chemotherapy on pathologic nodal status in muscle-invasive bladder cancer: optimal lymphadenectomy in the preoperative chemotherapy era

PURPOSE

To investigate the impact of preoperative chemotherapy (pCTX) on pathologic nodal (pN) status and evaluate the optimal lymphadenectomy method according to clinical nodal (cN) status in patients with muscle-invasive bladder cancer who received pCTX.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

We retrospectively reviewed 449 patients with muscle-invasive bladder cancer who underwent radical cystectomy. Among them, 139 (31.0%) received pCTX. We analyzed overall survival among three groups (cN-pCTX-, cN-pCTX+, and cN+pCTX+); the impact of lymphadenectomy extent according to the history of pCTX in cN- patients (n = 393); and the pN status which includes number of positive lymph nodes, and lymph node density in cN- patients who underwent extended lymphadenectomy (n = 222).

RESULTS

Overall survival was significantly dependent on cN status, and pCTX had no survival advantage although it decreased the percentage of pN+ patients and the number of positive lymph nodes in cN- patients. Lymph node density showed a significant prognostic effect on overall survival in Cox regression analysis both in cN- and cN+ patients. In cN- patients, there was no significant survival difference according to lymphadenectomy extent regardless of receiving pCTX.

CONCLUSIONS

pCTX can control micrometastases but not overt metastases, despite decreasing the number of positive lymph nodes in patients with muscle-invasive bladder cancer. Although extended lymphadenectomy is a reasonable diagnostic strategy in the pCTX era, standard dissection is as therapeutic as extended dissection in patients with cN- disease.

Identification of Lymph Node Metastasis-Related Key Genes and Prognostic Risk Model in Bladder Cancer by Co-Expression Analysis

Background: Lymph node metastasis (LNM) is an important pathological characteristic of bladder cancer (BCa). However, the molecular mechanism underlying LNM was not thoroughly elaborated. Identification for LNM-related biomarkers may contribute to making suitable therapies. So, the current study was aimed to identify key genes and construct a prognostic signature. Methods: Based on the Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database, gene expression and clinical information were obtained. Then, the weighted gene co-expression network analysis (WGCNA) was performed to identify the key modules and hub genes. A function analysis and a gene set enrichment analysis were applied to explore biological functions and pathways of interested genes. Furthermore, a prognostic model based on LNM-related genes was constructed by using the least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) Cox regression analysis. Results: Finally, nine co-expression modules were constructed, and two modules (turquoise and green) were significantly associated with LNM. Three hub genes were identified as DACT3, TNS1, and MSRB3, which were annotated in actin binding, actin cytoskeleton, adaptive immune response, and cell adhesion molecular binding by the GSEA method. Further analysis demonstrated that three hub genes were associated with the overall survival of BCa patients. In addition, we built a prognostic signature based on the genes from LNM-related modules and evaluated the prognostic value of this signature. Conclusion: In general, this study revealed the key genes related to LNM and prognostic signature, which might provide new insights into therapeutic target of BCa.

Surgical intervention in patients with urothelial carcinoma of the bladder and lymph node metastasis

PURPOSE OF REVIEW

To systematically review the most recent evidence on the role of surgery in patients with urothelial carcinoma of bladder and lymph node metastasis.

RECENT FINDINGS

Patients with urothelial carcinoma of bladder and lymph node metastasis have a poor prognosis. The mainstay treatment for these patients is systemic chemotherapy. However, slowly growing body of literature suggests that multimodal therapy comprised of radical cystectomy, lymph node dissection, and perioperative chemotherapy is more effective than either chemotherapy or surgery alone. The timing of chemotherapy, whether preoperative or adjuvant chemotherapy, is still controversial, but the current evidence indicates that patients who achieve a major or complete response after induction chemotherapy appear to benefit from the surgical intervention in the form of radical cystectomy and pelvic lymph node dissection. The limit of lymph node dissection has to be determined.

SUMMARY

Multimodal therapy is associated with better survival outcomes in bladder cancer patients with lymph node metastasis. The current guidelines recommend systemic chemotherapy as the mainstay of treatment for these patients, and there is no convincing evidence on the efficacy of surgical intervention in isolation. Nonetheless, studies comparing multiple treatment modalities demonstrated that surgical salvage therapy is beneficial only when combined with chemotherapy. The methodological limitations of the current literature preclude a robust conclusion of survival advantage. Further studies are needed to help improve imaging for detecting lymph node metastasis and novel strategies to enrich our multimodal therapeutic implementation.

The Prognosis and the Role of Adjuvant Chemotherapy for Node-Positive Bladder Cancer Treated with Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy Followed by Surgery

Purpose

This study aims to evaluate the prognosis of pathologically node-positive bladder cancer after neoadjuvant chemotherapy, the role of adjuvant chemotherapy in these patients, and the value of preoperative clinical evaluation for lymph node metastases.

Materials and Methods

Patients who received neoadjuvant chemotherapy followed by partial/radical cystectomy and had pathologically confirmed lymph node metastases between January 2007 and December 2019 were identified and analyzed.

Results

A total of 53 patients were included in the study. The median age was 61 years (range, 34 to 81 years) with males comprising 86.8%. Among the 52 patients with post-neoadjuvant/pre-operative computed tomography results, only 33 patients (63.5%) were considered positive for lymph node metastasis. Sixteen patients (30.2%) received adjuvant chemotherapy (AC group), and 37 patients did not (no AC group). With the median follow-up duration of 67.7 months, the median recurrence-free survival (RFS) and the median overall survival (OS) was 8.5 months and 16.2 months, respectively. The 2-year RFS and OS rates were 23.3% and 34.6%, respectively. RFS and OS did not differ between the AC group and no AC group (median RFS, 8.8 months vs. 6.8 months, p=0.772; median OS, 16.1 months vs. 16.3 months, p=0.479). Thirty-eight patients (71.7%) experienced recurrence. Distant metastases were the dominant pattern of failure in both the AC group (91.7%) and no AC group (76.9%).

Conclusion

Patients with lymph node-positive disease after neoadjuvant chemotherapy followed by surgery showed high recurrence rates with limited survival outcomes. Little benefit was observed with the addition of adjuvant chemotherapy.

Ureteral and urethral recurrence after radical cystectomy: a systematic review

PURPOSE OF REVIEW

The clinical significance of ureteral and urethral recurrence in patients treated with radical cystectomy for bladder cancer is scarce and heterogeneous. The aim of the current review is to summarize the recent literature on incidence, diagnosis and oncologic outcomes of ureteral and urethral recurrences after radical cystectomy.

RECENT FINDINGS

Frozen section analysis (FSA) of ureteral margin had a sensitivity and specificity of 69-77 and 83-96%, respectively. Considering the ureteral margin, the reported sensitivity and specificity were 33-93 and 99-100%, respectively. Transurethral biopsy of the prostatic urethra might help in counseling patients' treatment, although its accuracy and prognostic role is highly questionable. In patients treated with radical cystectomy, recurrence of the urethra or ureteral are rare, occurring approximately in 5% of patients. During the follow-up, urinary cytology and cross-sectional imaging improve the early detection of recurrence in asymptomatic patients, although the majority are diagnosed for symptomatic presentation. Their use should be tailored to the patient's risk of ureteral and/or urethral recurrence. Urethrectomy is indicated in case of singular urethral recurrence, whereas no clear data exists regarding the best management of ureteral recurrence, except surgical removal.

SUMMARY

Intraoperative FSA of ureters and urethra share good specificity but poor sensitivity. Recurrence at urethra and upper tract are rare and discordant data exists regarding survival outcomes. Oncologic surveillance after radical cystectomy with the aim to detect these recurrences should be tailored to the individualized patient's risk.

An Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition (EMT) Preoperative Nomogram for Prediction of Lymph Node Metastasis in Bladder Cancer (BLCA)

Lymph node (LN) metastasis is a lethal independent risk factor for patients with bladder cancer (BLCA). Accurate evaluation of LN metastasis is of vital importance for disease staging, treatment selection, and prognosis prediction. Several histopathologic parameters are available to predict LN metastasis postoperatively. To date, medical imaging techniques have made a great contribution to preoperatively diagnosis of LN metastasis, but it also exhibits substantial false positives. Therefore, a reliable and robust method to preoperatively predict LN metastasis is urgently needed. Here, we selected 19 candidate genes related to epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) across the LN metastasis samples, which was previously reported to be responsible for the subtype transition and correlation with malignancy and prognosis of BLCA, to establish an EMT-LN signature through LASSO logistic regression analysis. The EMT-LN signature could significantly predict LN metastasis with high accuracy in the TCGA-BLCA cohort, as well as several independent cohorts. As integrating with C3orf70 mutation, we developed an individualized prediction nomogram based on the EMT-LN signature. The nomogram exhibited good discrimination on LN metastasis status, with AUC of 71.7% and 75.9% in training and testing datasets of the TCGA-BLCA cohort. Moreover, the EMT-LN nomogram displayed good calibration with p > 0.05 in the Hosmer-Lemeshow goodness of fit test. Decision curve analysis (DCA) revealed that the EMT-LN nomogram was of high potential for clinical utility. In summary, we established an EMT-LN nomogram integrating an EMT-LN signature and C3orf70 mutation status, which acted as an easy-to-use tool to facilitate preoperative prediction of LN metastasis in BLCA individuals.

Clinical Characteristics and Prognosis of Rare Histological Variants of Bladder Cancer: A Single-Center Retrospective Study from China

Objective

To investigate the clinical characteristics and prognosis of patients with rare histological variants of bladder cancer (RHV-BC) in China.

Materials and Methods

Patients diagnosed as bladder carcinoma with RHV in our center, from March 2009 and April 2019, were included. The univariate and multivariate COX regression model were used to evaluate the association between clinical characteristics and overall survival (OS).

Results

A total of 54 (1.4%) patients with RVH-BC were identified from 3803 potential patients with bladder cancer. The RHV classifications included micropapillary variant (MPV), sarcomatoid variant (SAV), neuroendocrine variant (NEV), nested variant (NV), plasmacytoid variant (PCV), and lymphoepithelioma-like variant (LEV), which were found in 19, 18, seven, six, three, and one patient, respectively. The mean of recurrence-free survival (RFS), cancer-specific survival (CSS), and OS of patients were 18.8 months, 37.0 months and 36.0 months, respectively. The multivariable analyses indicated that metastasis and T ≥2 were independent risk factors of OS. Besides, 84.4% (27/32) of patients who were receiving intravesical therapies (IVT) suffered recurrence. Patients with adjuvant chemotherapy (AC) had a recurrence rate of 64.7% (11/17).

Conclusion

T≥2 and metastasis were independent risk factors of OS in patients with RHV-BC. Considering a high recurrence following transurethral resection of bladder tumor (TURBT) and IVT, early radical cystectomy (RC) might be performed for patients with RHV-BC.

Adjuvant chemotherapy versus observation after radical cystectomy in patients with node-positive bladder cancer

This retrospective study compared adjuvant chemotherapy (AC) versus observation after radical cystectomy (RC) in patients with node-positive bladder cancer (pN+). Outcomes were reviewed in patients with pTanyN1-3M0 bladder cancer who underwent RC with or without AC between 1995 and 2017. Baseline characteristics between the two groups were controlled with inverse probability of treatment weighting (IPTW)-adjusted analyses. Of 281 enrolled patients, the 3-year IPTW-adjusted rates of overall survival was higher in the AC group than the RC group (46.4% vs. 33.7%, p = 0.024). AC was an independent predictor of overall survival (hazard ratio = 0.48; P < 0.0001). When patients were subdivided by lymph node density (LND), the 3-year overall survival rates were similar between the AC and RC groups in patients with LND < 9%, but higher in the AC group in patients with LND 9–25% (53.4% vs. 23.7%) and LND ≥ 25% (27.4% vs. 16.1%). The numbers needed to treat to prevent one death at 3 years were three and nine in patients with LND 9–25% and ≥25%, respectively. In conclusion, AC after RC was associated with improved overall survival in patients with node-positive bladder cancer. Patients with an intermediate nodal burden may benefit most from AC.

Predictive value of lymphangiogenesis and proliferation markers on mRNA level in urothelial carcinoma of the bladder after radical cystectomy

OBJECTIVE

To evaluate the mRNA expression of lymphangiogenesis and proliferation markers and to examine its association with histopathological characteristics and clinical outcome in patients with urothelial carcinoma of the bladder (UCB) after radical cystectomy (RC).

PATIENTS AND METHODS

Gene expression analysis of the vascular endothelial growth -C and -D (VEGF-C/-D), its receptor VEGF receptor-3 (VEGFR-3), MKI67, and RACGAP1 was performed in 108 patients after radical cystectomy and their correlation with clinical-pathological parameters was investigated. Uni- and multivariate regression analyses were used to identify predictors for cancer-specific survival (CSS), recurrence-free survival (RFS) and overall survival (OS) after RC.

RESULTS

The expression of RACGAP1 and VEGFR-3 showed an association with a higher pT stage (P = 0.049; P = 0.009). MKI67 showed an association with a high-grade urothelial carcinoma of the bladder (P = 0.021). VEGFR-3 expression was significantly associated with the presence of lymphovascular invasion (LVI) (P = 0.016) and lymph node metastases (pN+) (P = 0.028). With the univariate analysis, overexpression of VEGFR-3 (P = 0.029) and the clinical-pathological parameters pT stage (P < 0.0001), pN+ (P = 0.0004), LVI (P < 0.0001) and female gender (P = 0.021) were significantly associated with a reduced CSS. Multivariate analysis identified a higher pT stage (P = 0.017) and LVI (P = 0.008) as independent predictors for reduced CSS. Independent predictors for reduced OS were a higher pT stage (P = 0.0007) and LVI (P = 0.0021), while overexpression of VEGF-D was associated with better OS (P < 0.0001).

CONCLUSIONS

The mRNA expression of the investigated markers showed associations with common histopathological parameters. Increased expression of VEGF-D is independently associated with better overall survival.