CXCR4 expression in bladder transitional cell carcinoma and its relationship with clinicopathological features

Abstract

Objective: To elucidate the role of CXCR4 in the metastasis of bladder transitional cell carcinoma (BTCC) by examining CXCR4 expression in BTCC tissue and its correlation with clinicopathological features.

Methods: The expression of CXCR4 was assessed in bladder tissues from 70 BTCC patients and 18 normal controls, respectively, using immunohistochemistry. The correlation of CXCR4 expression with lymph node metastasis was also examined by determining the lymphatic vessel density (LVD).

Results: Overexpression of CXCR4 was detected in 58/70 (82.9%) BTCC tissues, whereas only in 3/18 (16.7%) normal bladder tissues. The expression was significantly higher in BTCC than that in normal controls (p < 0.01). CXCR4 expression level was closely associated with tumor size, pathological grades, clinical stages, and pelvic lymph node metastasis (p < 0.05). Multivariate analysis indicated that CXCR4 expression and lymph node metastasis were independent predictors for disease-free survival (both p < 0.05). The disease-free survival rate among the patients with high CXCR4 expression level was remarkably lower than that among the patients with no or low level expression (p < 0.01).

Conclusion: Highly expressed in BTCC tissues, CXCR4 may play a critical role in the metastasis of BTCC, and the expression level in biopsy specimens might be a good indicator of lymph node metastasis.