Expression And Clinical Significance Of CXCL12-CXCR4/CXCR7in Bladder Urothelial Carcinoma

Objective:To observe the expression of chemokine CXCL12and its receptors CXCR4, CXCR7in urothelial carcinoma and normal mucosa of bladder, and to expound the potential relationship between the expression of CXCL12, CXCR4, CXCR7and clinicopathologic factors (age, gender, smoking history, incipient or recurrent,tumor stage and histologic grade) of bladder urothelial carcinoma. To discuss the correlation between the expression of CXCL12, CXCR4, and CXCR7in bladder urothelial cell carcinoma.Methods:The expression of CXCL12, CXCR4, and CXCR7in17normal bladder mucosa and95bladder urothelial cell carcinoma tissues were detected using immunohistochemical study, and correlated with tumor stage, histologic grade, and patients’ age, gender, smoking history. Data were performed with SPSS17.0software. Chi-square test and Pearson rank correlation were used. Data were considered statistically significant when p values were less than0.05.Results:1. The positive expression percentage of CXCL12protein for normal bladder mucosa and bladder urothelial cell carcinoma tissues was separately29.4%(5/17),62.1%(59/95); The difference was statistically significant (P＜0.05). In the35cases of low histologic grade (G1),10ones were positive (28.6%,10/35), as in the60cases of high histologic grade (G2-G3),49cases showed positive (81.7%,49/60); The difference was statistically significant (P＜0.05). In the76cases of non-muscle invasive urothelial carcinoma (Tis-T1),41cases revealed positive staining (45%,41/76), while in the19cases of muscle invasive tumors (T2-T4),18revealed positive (94.7%,18/19). The difference was statistically significant (P＜0.05). In the69incipient cases,35ones were positive (50.7%,35/69), as in the recurrent26cases,24cases showed positive (92.3%,24/26); The difference was statistically significant (P＜0.05). The positive percentage of CXCL12showed no statistic difference for different age, gender, or smoking history (P＞0.05).2. The positive expression percentage of CXCR4protein for normal bladder mucosa and bladder urothelial cell carcinoma tissues was separately41.2%(7/17), 72.6%(69/95); The difference was statistically significant (P＜0.05). In the35cases of low histologic grade (G1),21ones were positive (60.0%,21/35), as in the60cases of high histologic grade (G2-G3),48cases showed positive (80.0%,48/60); The difference was statistically significant (P＜0.05). In the76cases of non-muscle invasive urothelial carcinoma (Tis-T1),51cases revealed positive staining (67.1%,51/76), while in the19cases of muscle invasive tumors (T2-T4),18revealed positive (94.7%,18/19). The difference was statistically significant (P＜0.05). In the69incipient cases,46ones were positive (66.7%,46/69), as in the recurrent26cases,23cases showed positive (88.5%,23/26); The difference was statistically significant (P＜0.05). The positive percentage of CXCR4showed no statistic difference for different age, gender, or smoking history (P＞0.05).3. The positive expression percentage of CXCR7protein for normal bladder mucosa and bladder urothelial cell carcinoma tissues was separately23.5%(4/17),66.3%(63/95); The difference was statistically significant (P＜0.05). In the35cases of low histologic grade (G1),20ones were positive (57.1%,20/35), as in the60cases of high histologic grade (G2-G3),43cases showed positive (71.7%,43/60); The difference was not statistically significant (P>0.05). In the76cases of non-muscle invasive urothelial carcinoma (Tis-T1),46cases revealed positive staining (60.5%,46/76), while in the19cases of muscle invasive tumors (T2-T4),17revealed positive (89.5%,17/19). The difference was statistically significant (P＜0.05). In the69incipient cases,38ones were positive (55.1%,38/69), as in the recurrent26cases,25cases showed positive (96.2%,25/26); The difference was statistically significant (P＜0.05). The positive percentage of CXCR7showed no statistic difference for different age, gender, or smoking history (P＞0.05).Conclusions:1. The expression of CXCL12, CXCR4and CXCR7in bladder urothelial carcinoma tissues was significantly higher than in normal bladder mucosa, which reveals that CXCL12, CXCR4, and CXCR7may play an important role in the occurrence and progression of bladder urothelial carcinoma.2. The expression of CXCL12, CXCR4, and CXCR7in bladder urothelial carcinoma tissues was positively correlated with tumor clinical stage, pathological grade; Compared with incipient cases, there was a higher positive rate of the three proteins in the recurrent cases. To detect the expression of CXCL12, CXCR4, and CXCR7contributes to diagnosis and prognosis of bladder urothelial carcinoma.3. CXCL12-CXCR4/CXCR7biological axis may become a new target for targeted therapy of bladder urothelial cell carcinoma.