Prognostic Value of Leptin Receptor Overexpression in Upper Tract Urothelial Carcinomas in Taiwan.

Abstract

Leptin and its receptor (LEPR) are key players in the regulation of energy balance and body weight control and act as a growth factor for specific organs in both normal and disease states. However, LEPR accumulation may be involved in carcinogenesis, progression, and metastasis in many cancers. This study evaluated the clinical significance of LEPR expression in upper tract urothelial carcinoma (UTUC). LEPR expression was examined in 110 tissue samples from patients with UTUC, using immunohistochemistry, and an analysis was performed to identify evidence of association between LEPR expression and different clinicopathologic variables. LEPR expression was significantly correlated with patients with increased body mass index (P< .001) and high serum creatinine levels (P= .005). We found, using the log-rank test, that high LEPR expression was associated with poor recurrence-free (P= .009) and cancer-specific survival (P= .001). This finding was supported by our results using Cox regression analysis, which showed that LEPR expression was an independent predictor of poor recurrence-free survival (hazard ratio= 2.55; P= .011) and cancer-specific survival (hazard ratio= 2.26; P= .006). Our findings indicate that LEPR expression is a potential biomarker for predicting patient survival in UTUC. Further study is necessary to investigate the role of LEPR in carcinogenesis of UTUC.