Urothelial carcinoma (UC) is a common type of malignant disease; however, the diagnostic and prognostic markers of upper urinary tract urothelial cancer (UTUC) remain poorly understood because of its rarity.
To clarify the clinicopathological significance of granulocyte-colony stimulating factor (G-CSF) in UTUC, we analyzed the expression and distribution of G-CSF in 112 upper tract urothelial carcinoma (UTUC) samples with immunohistochemistry.
In normal urothelium, G-CSF expression was weak or absent, whereas high expression of G-CSF was observed in UTUC tissues, both in tumor cells (TCs) and stromal cells (SCs). G-CSF expression in the TCs and SCs was associated with nodular/flat morphology, high grade, advanced T stage, and lymphovascular invasion in UTUC. G-CSF expression in SCs was associated with poor prognosis and was an independent prognostic factor. Public data showed that G-CSF expression was also associated with decreased progression-free survival and disease-specific survival. A prognostic model was constructed by incorporating the presence or absence of G-CSF expression along with clinicopathologic factors, which allowed for a more accurate prediction of poor prognosis. We further showed that G-CSF expression was associated with a high Ki-67 labeling index and with PD-L1, HER2, and p53 expression in UTUC.
G-CSF expression in TCs and SCs may play a crucial role in UTUC tumor progression. Notably, stromal G-CSF expression showed significant prognostic value, even when compared to major clinicopathological factors, suggesting that the evaluation of G-CSF expression may contribute to clinical decision-making in patients with UTUC.
Journal of cancer research and clinical oncology. 2024 Dec 30*** epublish ***
Go Kobayashi, Yohei Sekino, Hikaru Nakahara, Kohei Kobatake, Keisuke Goto, Tetsutaro Hayashi, Kazuhiro Sentani, Nobuyuki Hinata
Laboratory of Molecular Pathology, Department of Molecular Biosciences, Radiation Effects Research Foundation, Hiroshima, Japan., Department of Urology, Graduate School of Biomedical and Health Sciences, Hiroshima University, 1-2-3 Kasumi, Minami-ku, Hiroshima, 734-8551, Japan. ., Department of Clinical and Molecular Genetics, Graduate School of Biomedical and Health Sciences, Hiroshima University, Hiroshima, Japan., Department of Urology, Graduate School of Biomedical and Health Sciences, Hiroshima University, 1-2-3 Kasumi, Minami-ku, Hiroshima, 734-8551, Japan., Department of Molecular Pathology, Graduate School of Biomedical and Health Sciences, Hiroshima University, Hiroshima, Japan.