CD10 Is Again Expressed at a Certain Stage during the Neoplastic Process of Bladder Transitional Cell Carcinomas

Expression of CD10 in urothelial carcinoma of the bladder and its correlation with histopathological grade, pathological stage, and survival of patients

Background

CD10 plays a role in signal transduction pathway and regulation of cell growth apoptosis, and therefore, it has been evaluated in different malignancies. The present study was conducted to study the immunoexpression of CD10 in urothelial carcinoma and to correlate it with histological grade, pathological stage, and survival of patients.

Materials and Methods

The study included 51 cases of urothelial carcinoma diagnosed on histopathology along with 50 controls having nonneoplastic urothelium. All the cases and controls were subjected to CD10 immunostaining. The CD10 expression was compared between the cases and controls and was also correlated with histological grade, pathological stage, histomorphological features, and 1-year survival.

Results

The study included 78.4% of high-grade urothelial carcinoma (HGUC) and 21.6% of low-grade urothelial carcinoma. The positive score of CD10 expression was observed in 68.6% of cases, while 96% of controls observed negative immunostaining. About 90.9% of low-grade carcinoma observed score 0, while 83.7% of high grade observed positive score of 1 and 2. Although there was statistical significant difference between CD 10 score and stage of tumor, its expression did not correlate with 1-year survival of cases.

Conclusion

CD10 expression increases with the grade of tumor and thus may be helpful in differentiating low grade from HGUC. Its expression also increases with stage and poor prognostic factors suggesting its possible role in pathogenesis and progression of urothelial carcinoma. CD 10 may be further analyzed for molecular targeted therapy against urothelial carcinoma.

Overexpression of membrane metalloendopeptidase inhibits substance P stimulation of cholangiocarcinoma growth

Substance P (SP) promotes cholangiocyte growth during cholestasis by activating its receptor, NK1R. SP is a proteolytic product of tachykinin (Tac1) and is deactivated by membrane metalloendopeptidase (MME). This study aimed to evaluate the functional role of SP in the regulation of cholangiocarcinoma (CCA) growth. NK1R, Tac1, and MME expression and SP secretion were assessed in human CCA cells and nonmalignant cholangiocytes. The proliferative effects of SP (in the absence/presence of the NK1R inhibitor, L-733,060) and of L-733,060 were evaluated. In vivo, the effect of L-733,060 treatment or MME overexpression on tumor growth was evaluated by using a xenograft model of CCA in nu/nu nude mice. The expression of Tac1, MME, NK1R, PCNA, CK-19, and VEGF-A was analyzed in the resulting tumors. Human CCA cell lines had increased expression of Tac1 and NK1R, along with reduced levels of MME compared with nonmalignant cholangiocytes, resulting in a subsequent increase in SP secretion. SP treatment increased CCA cell proliferation in vitro, which was blocked by L-733,060. Treatment with L-733,060 alone inhibited CCA proliferation in vitro and in vivo. Xenograft tumors derived from MME-overexpressed human Mz-ChA-1 CCA cells had a slower growth rate than those derived from control cells. Expression of PCNA, CK-19, and VEGF-A decreased, whereas MME expression increased in the xenograft tumors treated with L-733,060 or MME-overexpressed xenograft tumors compared with controls. The study suggests that SP secreted by CCA promotes CCA growth via autocrine pathway. Blockade of SP secretion and NK1R signaling may be important for the management of CCA.