An immunohistologic evaluation of C-erbB-2 gene product in patients with urinary bladder carcinoma

Amplification or overexpression of the c-erbB-2 gene have been reported to correlate with poor patient prognosis in human breast, gastric, and ovarian cancer. Recently, the c-erbB-2 gene product was found to be expressed frequently in the urinary bladder carcinoma. In the current study, the presence of the c-erbB-2 gene product in urinary bladder carcinomas was compared with patient outcome to evaluate whether c-erbB-2 gene product could identify a subset of patients who are destined to have a poor prognosis.

Immunohistologic study of the c-erbB-2 gene product was done in formaldehyde-fixed paraffin-embedded tissue specimens obtained from 88 transitional cell carcinomas of the human urinary bladder. Eighty-three patients who underwent complete tumor resection by total cystoprostatectomy (30 patients) or by bladder-preserving operations such as transurethral surgery (50 patients) or partial cystectomy (3 patients) entered a follow-up study. The other five patients did not enter the follow-up study because of lost follow-up (2 patients) or distant metastasis at the time of surgery.

The c-erbB-2 gene product was expressed in 23 of 88 patients (26%), showing an increase in the expression rate corresponding to the advancement of tumor grade (P < 0.05) and tumor stage (P < 0.2). The 5-year disease-free survival rate was 48.5% for patients with c-erbB-2 negative tumors versus 9.7% for those with c-erbB-2 positive tumors (P < 0.01). The 5-year actuarial survival rate was 65.5% for patients with c-erbB-2 negative tumors versus 41.8% for those with c-erbB-2 positive tumors (P < 0.05). Multivariate analysis using Cox regression model showed that the c-erbB-2 gene product tissue status was a significant prognostic factor independent of grade and stage of the tumor.

The results suggest that the c-erbB-2 gene product could be a tumor marker to identify a malignant subgroup in bladder carcinomas.