Trop-2 in Upper Tract Urothelial Carcinoma

Area of Science:

• Oncology
• Urothelial Carcinoma Research
• Molecular Diagnostics

Background:

• Trophoblast cell surface antigen 2 (Trop-2) is a target for sacituzumab govitecan, a drug used for advanced urothelial carcinoma.
• The expression of Trop-2 in upper tract urothelial carcinoma (UTUC) is not well understood.
• Understanding Trop-2 expression is crucial for potential therapeutic strategies in UTUC.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the expression status of Trop-2 in UTUC.
• To analyze the association between Trop-2 expression and clinical outcomes in UTUC patients.
• To explore the potential of Trop-2 targeted therapies in UTUC.

Main Methods:

• Immunohistochemical analysis of 99 UTUC tissue samples to assess Trop-2 expression.
• Statistical analysis to correlate Trop-2 expression levels with progression-free survival (PFS) and cancer-specific survival.
• RNA sequencing of 72 UTUC samples to evaluate TACSTD2 gene expression and its association with PFS.

Main Results:

• Trop-2 was found to be positive in 94% of the 99 UTUC samples analyzed.
• High Trop-2 expression was significantly associated with favorable PFS and cancer-specific survival (p = 0.0011, 0.0046).
• Multivariate analysis confirmed high Trop-2 expression as an independent predictor of favorable PFS, particularly in high-risk UTUC groups (p = 0.045).
• Gene expression analysis showed high TACSTD2 expression associated with favorable PFS in UTUC (p = 0.029 in high-risk group).

Conclusions:

• Trop-2 is widely expressed in upper tract urothelial carcinoma.
• High Trop-2 expression serves as a favorable prognostic indicator in UTUC.
• The widespread expression of Trop-2 suggests that sacituzumab govitecan could be an effective treatment option for a broad spectrum of UTUC patients.