P0094 CSF2 overexpression as a poor prognostic factor in patients with urothelial carcinoma of the upper urinary tract and urinary bladder

Abstract

Background Through data mining of a published transcriptomic database of urothelial carcinomas of the urinary bladder (GSE32894), colony stimulating factor 2 (CSF2) was identified as the most significant gene showing stepwise upregulation related to positive regulation of tyrosine phosphorylation of STAT5 (GO:0042523). We therefore analysed CSF2 transcript and protein expression and their association with clinicopathological factors and survival in our well-characterised cohort of urothelial carcinomas. Methods Laser capture microdissection coupled with real-time qRT-PCR was used to detect CSF2 transcript level in 24 urothelial carcinomas of the urinary bladder and six non-tumour urothelium samples. Immunohistochemistry evaluated by using H-score was used to determine CSF2 protein expression in 296 urothelial carcinomas of the urinary bladder and 340 urothelial carcinomas of the upper urinary tract. Protein expression was correlated with clinicopathological features and disease-specific survival (DSS) and metastasis-free survival (MeFS). Findings CSF2 transcripts were detected exclusively in tumour lesions (p = 0.010) with stepwise upregulation. CSF2 protein overexpression was significantly associated with advanced pT status (urothelial carcinomas of the upper urinary tract, p = 0.011; urothelial carcinomas of the urinary bladder, p Interpretation CSF2 overexpression is associated with advanced clinical features for both patients with urothelial carcinomas of the upper urinary tract and urothelial carcinomas of the urinary bladder, suggesting it may serve as a potential prognostic and a novel therapeutic target of urothelial carcinoma.