PMID: 9176385Jun 1, 1997Paper

Improved prognosis assessment for patients with bladder carcinoma

The American Journal of Pathology
T OttoH Rübben

Abstract

Urothelial carcinomas are heterogeneous diseases with an aggressive clinical potential. To date, the most used prognostic factors for bladder carcinomas are grade and stage, which are based on histopathological parameters that are often not reliable in predicting a clinical outcome. Here, we evaluated the clinical outcome of 100 patients with urothelial carcinomas with follow-up information for more than 2 years after surgery in relation to the expression of two cell surface antigens, ie, E-cadherin and autocrine motility factor receptor (AMF-R, gp78). Frozen bladder tissues were serially cut, stained either with hematoxylin and eosin for grading, with the anti-gp78 antibodies, or with anti-E-cadherin antibodies to determine level of expression. Of 63 patients presented at the time of diagnosis with pathological loss of E-cadherin associated with increased gp78 expression, 39 (62%) succumbed to tumor progression or death. Of 37 patients with normal E-cadherin and gp78 expression positive and negative, respectively, 36 (97%) had favorable disease outcomes (P < 0.0001). The results suggest that in bladder carcinomas abnormal expression of both E-cadherin and gp78 results in a poor disease outcome, independent of tumor stage and g...Continue Reading

Related Concepts

Related Feeds

Cadherins and Catenins

Cadherins (named for "calcium-dependent adhesion") are a type of cell adhesion molecule (CAM) that is important in the formation of adherens junctions to bind cells with each other. Catenins are a family of proteins found in complexes with cadherin cell adhesion molecules of animal cells: alpha-catenin can bind to β-catenin and can also bind actin. β-catenin binds the cytoplasmic domain of some cadherins. Discover the latest research on cadherins and catenins here.

Bladder Carcinoma In Situ

Bladder Carcinoma In Situ is a superficial bladder cancer that occurs on the surface layer of the bladder. Discover the latest research on this precancerous condition in this feed.