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SNAI1 Protein Expression is an Independent Negative Prognosticator in Muscle-Invasive Bladder Cancer

  • Urologic Oncology
  • Published:
Annals of Surgical Oncology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Background

The prognosis of muscle-invasive bladder cancer is poor. Molecular prognosticators have gained increasing attention for individualized therapeutic options because they can identify patients with different prognoses.

Methods

Tissue microarrays of formalin-fixed and paraffin-embedded tumor samples from 206 bladder cancer patients treated with cystectomy and chemotherapy were studied for SNAI1 protein expression by immunohistochemistry. SNAI1 expression was evaluated using an immunoreactive score (IRS). For statistical analysis, the patients were separated into two groups: those with tumor specimens negative for SNAI1 expression (IRS = 0), and the other positive for SNAI1 expression (IRS ≥1).

Results

Tumor samples from 42 patients showed negative SNAI1 expression, whereas the nuclei of tumor cells from 164 patients showed detectable nuclear staining of SNAI1. A Kaplan–Meier analysis of the bladder cancer patients with negative SNAI1 expression showed significantly reduced disease-specific survival (DSS) and progression-free survival (PFS) compared to the patients with positive expression (p = 0.010 and 0.013). A multivariate Cox regression analysis (adjusted for gender, age, tumor stage, tumor grade, lymph node metastasis, chemotherapy, and histologic subtype) again showed a significant correlation between patients lacking SNAI1 expression and DSS (p = 0.005; relative risk 2.31; 95 % confidence interval 1.28–4.17) or PFS (p = 0.004; relative risk 2.20; 95 % confidence interval 1.29–3.78) compared to patients with positive SNAI1 staining.

Conclusions

Loss of SNAI1 protein expression is an independent prognosticator for PFS and DSS in bladder cancer patients treated by radical cystectomy and adjuvant chemotherapy. Its prognostic value for neoadjuvant or adjuvant chemotherapy must be evaluated in further prospective randomized controlled trials.

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Acknowledgment

We thank American Journal Experts for language editing.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Urology, University Hospital Erlangen, Erlangen, Germany

    Bastian Keck MD, Sven Wach PhD, Peter J. Goebell MD, Frank Kunath MD, Helge Taubert PhD & Bernd Wullich MD

  2. Department of Pathology, University Erlangen, Erlangen, Germany

    Simone Bertz MD & Arndt Hartmann MD

  3. Department of Urology, Staedtisches Krankenhaus, Kiel, Germany

    Jan Lehmann MD

  4. Department of Urology, Saarland University, Bad Homburg, Germany

    Michael Stöckle MD

Authors
  1. Bastian Keck MD
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  2. Sven Wach PhD
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  3. Peter J. Goebell MD
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  4. Frank Kunath MD
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  5. Simone Bertz MD
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  6. Jan Lehmann MD
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  7. Michael Stöckle MD
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  8. Helge Taubert PhD
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  9. Bernd Wullich MD
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  10. Arndt Hartmann MD
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Bastian Keck MD.

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Keck, B., Wach, S., Goebell, P.J. et al. SNAI1 Protein Expression is an Independent Negative Prognosticator in Muscle-Invasive Bladder Cancer. Ann Surg Oncol 20, 3669–3674 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1245/s10434-013-3075-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1245/s10434-013-3075-6

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