Can Recurrence and Progression be Predicted by HYAL-1 Expression in Primary T1 Bladder Cancer?

Abstract

<b>Background:</b> Molecular prognostic markers have been under investigation for the last decade and novalidated marker to date has been proven to be used in daily clinical practice for urinary bladder cancers. Theaim of the present study is to evaluate the significance of HYAL-1 expression in prediction of recurrence andprogression in pT1 urothelial carcinomas. Materials and <br/><b>Methods</b>: Eighty-nine urothelial carcinoma casesstaged as T1 according to 2004 WHO classification were studied. Representative sections from every case werestained immunohistochemically for HYAL-1 and scored between 0 and +3, according to staining density, andgraded as low and high for the scores 0-1 and 2-3, respectively. <br/><b>Results</b>: Of the 89 pT1 bladder cancer patients,HYAL-1 expression was high in 92.1% (82 patients; 72 patients +3 and 10 patients +2) and low in 7.9% (only 7patients; 6 patients +1 and 1 patient 0) of the cases. Of the 89 patients, 38 (42.7%) had recurrence and 22 (24.7%)showed progression. HYAL-1 staining did not show significant characteristics for tumor grade, accompanyingCIS, multiplicity, tumor size, age and sex. HYAL-1 expression did not have any prognostic value in estimatingrecurrence or progression. <br/><b>Conclusions</b>: HYAL-1 expression was found to be high, but did not have any prognosticimportance in T1 bladder urothelial carcinomas.