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Objectives In tumor immune microenvironment, the functions of tumor-associated macrophages (TAMs), including phagocytosis and immunomodulatory, have attracted increasing attention recently. With the discovery of CD47–signal regulatory protein-α (SIRPα) as “don't eat me” signaling pathway, the role of novel subpopulation of TAMs expressing SIRPα has not been fully elucidated in a wide spectrum of solid tumors including bladder cancer. In this study, we investigated the prognostic and predictive implication of SIRPα+ TAMs regarding clinical outcomes and adjuvant chemotherapeutic benefit in muscle-invasive bladder cancer (MIBC), and preliminarily characterized the phenotypic features of SIRPα+ TAMs and its relationship with immune contexture. Materials and methods A total of 141 histochemical MIBC samples from Zhongshan Hospital (ZS), 45 fresh tissue samples, and 391 MIBC patients from TCGA database were enrolled in this study. SIRPα+ TAMs was evaluated by immunohistochemical staining of CD68 and SIRPα, and flow cytometry fluorescence staining. Results Our results illustrated that SIRPα+ TAMs were enriched in MIBC specimens. Patients with high SIRPα+ TAMs infiltration suffered significant poor overall survival and recurrence-free survival (P = 0.0030 and P = 0.0282). SIRPα+ TAMs infiltration was an independent prognosticator in multivariate Cox model. Moreover, adjuvant chemotherapy (ACT) application showed significantly survival benefit in patients with low SIRPα+ TAMs infiltration (P = 0.0135). SIRPα+ TAMs with suppressive phenotype exhibited a positive correlation with immune tolerance and dysfunctional CD8+ T cells in MIBC. Conclusions SIRPα+ TAMs infiltration indicated poor prognosis and ACT resistance in MIBC. Immunosuppressive SIRPα+ TAMs is closely related to immune evasion with exhausted T cells states, suggesting the prospect of SIRPα+ TAMs as a potential therapeutic target in MIBC.

Purpose Galectin-9, a member of the “tandem repeat” type galectins performing as animal lectins with an affinity for β-galactosides, has been well documented to exert crucial functions in immunomodulation, survival, and growth of various tumors. This study aims to reveal the clinical significance of galectin-9 in urothelial carcinoma of the bladder (UCB) postoperatively. Materials and methods We retrospectively included 202 patients with UCB who underwent radical cystectomy at a single institute from 2002 to 2014. Galectin-9 expression was assessed by immunohistochemistry on tissue microarrays. The Kaplan-Meier method was conducted to plot survival curves. Prognostic nomograms were constructed via integrating all the independent indicators from multivariate Cox analysis for recurrence-free survival (RFS) and cancer-specific survival (CSS). In addition, we evaluate whether patients with increased or decreased galectin-9 expression might benefit from adjuvant chemotherapy. Results Low galectin-9 expression was significantly correlated with lymphovascular invasion (P = 0.002), early recurrence (P = 0.010), and short CSS (P = 0.002). Furthermore, multivariate analysis identified galectin-9 expression as a potential independent indicator for RFS (hazard ratio = 0.62; 95% CI: 0.40–0.95; P = 0.030) and CSS (hazard ratio = 0.46; 95% CI: 0.26–0.81; P = 0.008). Moreover, the benefit associated with adjuvant chemotherapy was superior among galectin-9 low patients than among galectin-9 high patients (P = 0.014). Conclusions Expression of galectin-9 is an independent prognostic factor for RFS and CSS in patients with UCB. Evaluation of galectin-9 expression may predict the benefit from adjuvant chemotherapy.

To investigate the expression pattern of CD155 and evaluate the prognostic value of CD155 in muscle-invasive bladder cancer (MIBC).Immunohistochemical staining of CD155 and survival analysis were conducted on 228 nonmetastatic MIBC patients underwent radical cystectomy in cohorts from Fudan University Shanghai Cancer Center and Zhongshan Hospital. Association of CD155 gene expression with tumor stage and survival were analyzed in TCGA and GSE13507 dataset.CD155 was significantly up-regulated in MIBC compared to matched normal urothelium and majorly stained on the membrane of tumor cells. In Fudan MIBC cohort, CD155 high expression was significantly correlated with shorter recurrence-free survival (HR = 2.13, P0.001) and overall survival (HR = 2.49, P0.001). CD155 expression, T stage, and lymph node status were independent factors for predicting survival in multivariate analysis. In TCGA dataset, CD155 high expression was independently associated with shorter overall survival (HR = 1.74, P = 0.001) beyond age, T stage, and lymph node status. Further, explorative analysis in Fudan MIBC cohort showed that adjuvant chemotherapy was associated with longer recurrence-free survival and overall survival in stage III and IV disease with CD155-high tumors.These findings suggest that CD155 is a robust prognostic factor and may help predict the benefit of adjuvant chemotherapy in MIBC.

Accumulating evidence indicates that CXC chemokine receptor 6 (CXCR6) has a crucial role in cancer development and progression, however, its role in clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC) remains obscure. The aim of this study is to investigate the prognostic value of CXCR6 expression in patients with ccRCC following surgery.This study retrospectively included 239 patients with ccRCC who underwent nephrectomy and had paraffin tissue available at a single center. CXCR6 expression in tumor tissue was evaluated by immunohistochemistry and its associations with overall survival (OS) and recurrence-free survival (RFS) were investigated.A total of 47.3% tumors were considered as high expression of CXCR6, which was significantly associated with the male sex (P = 0.003) and high Fuhrman grade (P0.001). A high expression of CXCR6 indicated a reduced OS (P0.001) and RFS (P = 0.007). Multivariate analysis demonstrated that CXCR6 expression was an independent prognostic factor of OS (hazard ratio = 2.604; 95% CI: 1.338-5.068; P = 0.005) and RFS (hazard ratio = 1.957; 95% CI: 1.065-3.595; P = 0.031). Subgroup analysis found that CXCR6 expression could differentiate survival risks among patients with high-risk disease. Moreover, a nomogram integrating CXCR6 expression and traditional clinical and pathologic features was established and predicted postsurgical recurrence-risk well at 3- and 5-year.The expression of CXCR6 in tumor tissue may serve as a potential prognostic biomarker to refine clinical prognosis prediction combined with traditional clinical and pathological analysis for patients with ccRCC after surgery.

Purpose Sialic acid-binding immunoglobulin-like lectins (siglecs) family has important functions in tumor progression. The purpose of our study is to figure out the correlation between the expression level of Siglec-8 and prognosis of patients with clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC), and then to predict the overall survival (OS) via a novel nomogram. Materials and methods A group of patients ( n = 267) histologically diagnosed with ccRCC from Zhongshan Hospital were included into our study. Immunohistochemistry of Siglec-8 was performed in the tissue microarray, and the staining intensity was divided into high/low according to the median value of the H-score grading. Survival analyses including Kaplan-Meier analyses and Cox regression analyses were performed to evaluate the association between Siglec-8 expression and the survival of patients in different risk groups. Stage, size, grade, and necrosis score and University of California Los Angeles Integrated Staging System score were used in the risk stratification. A nomogram incorporating Siglec-8 and several other clinical parameters was plotted for predicting the 5-year and 8-year OS. Results Siglec-8 was observed dominantly on the membrane of tumor cells. The enhanced expression level of Siglec-8 had significant correlation with adverse overall and disease-free survival of patients ( P P = 0.0186, respectively). The association was more significant in patients with lower risk. Cox regression analyses defined Siglec-8 as an independent prognostic factor of OS ( P P = 0.003 for multivariate analysis). The new nomogram integrating Siglec-8 with several traditional prognostic factors proved to be more accurate than conventional prognostic system using tumor node metastasis stage only (Harrell c-index: 0.801, 95% CI: 0.755–0.847 vs. 0.717, 95% CI: 0.662–0.772). Conclusion Our study has found that the elevated expression level of Siglec-8 was correlated with poor prognosis of patients with ccRCC. Siglec-8, incorporation with other clinical parameters, could perform better in prediction of patients׳ OS.

Our previous studies have identified an abnormal H3K27 methylation status in clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC). Ubiquitously transcribed tetratricopeptide repeat on chromosome X (UTX) has been demonstrated as a histone demethylase that specifically targets di-methyl groups and tri-methyl groups on lysine 27 of histone H3 (H3K27me2/3). Herein, we explored the prognostic value of tumoral UTX expression in patient with ccRCC.We retrospectively enrolled 290 ccRCC patients underwent nephrectomy at a single institution between 2005 and 2007. UTX expression was assessed by immunohistochemistry on tissue microarrays and its prognostic value was assessed using Kaplan-Meier method and Cox proportional hazard model. Nomograms were generated as prediction models for overall survival (OS) and disease free survival (DFS).Low expression of UTX was associated with reduced OS (P0.001) and DFS (P = 0.001). In multivariate cox analyses, UTX was defined as an independent prognostic factor for OS (hazard ratio = 2.732 [95% CI: 1.650-4.493], P0.001) and DFS (hazard ratio = 1.959 [95% CI: 1.153-3.326], P0.001) as well. After stratifying patients into different risk groups using the Mayo Clinic stage, size, grade and necrosis/Leibovich score, decreased UTX expression was associated with shorter OS in both low-risk (P = 0.002) and high-risk groups (P = 0.030), but with shorter DFS only in low-risk group (P0.001). Overall, 2 nomograms incorporating UTX expression with other parameters performed well in predicting patients' 5-year and 8-year OS and DFS (c-indices = 0.824 and 0.798, respectively).UTX is a prognostic biomarker for patients with ccRCC both in OS and DFS prediction, especially significant in low-risk patients.

Clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC) is well known for its hypervascularity due to the Von Hippel-Lindau/hypoxia-inducible factor dysregulation. Recent findings suggested that copper transporter 2 (CTR2) is also associated with angiogenesis through copper׳s modulation of the hypoxia-inducible factor pathway. Our group thus explored the prognostic role of CTR2 in patients with ccRCC.A total of 331 patients with ccRCC who underwent nephrectomy were enrolled between February 2005 and June 2007 at a single institution. The median follow-up was 98.97 months (2.63-120.47mo). Patients׳ samples were collected and stained for CTR2 by immunohistochemistry. The staining intensity was analyzed quantitatively and defined as high/low expression using X-tile software. Stage, Size, Grade, and Necrosis score and University of California Los Angeles Integrated Staging System score were applied to stratify patients׳ risks. Survival analyses were performed through the Kaplan-Meier method and Cox proportional hazard model. After integrating tumoral CTR2 expression with other clinical parameters, 2 nomograms were generated for overall survival (OS) and disease-free survival (DFS) prediction.CTR2 expression in ccRCC was decreased compared with that in the peritumoral tissue (P0.001) and negatively correlated with many other clinical parameters. In survival analyses using the Kaplan-Meier method, low tumoral CTR2 expression displayed a dismal prognostic effect both in OS and DFS prediction (P0.001). Multivariate analyses also revealed the same result after adjusted with other clinical parameters (P0.001). Stratifying patients into 3 risk levels using the Stage, Size, Grade, and Necrosis score and University of California Los Angeles Integrated Staging System score, decreased CTR2 expression associated with shorter OS and DFS in the low- and intermediate-risk groups. Moreover, the generated nomogram integrating tumoral CTR2 expression performed better in predicting patients׳ OS than using TNM stages alone (c-index = 0.799; 95% CI: 0.752-0.846 vs. 0.691; 95% CI: 0.637-0.745).CTR2 is a novel prognostic marker for patients with ccRCC both in OS and DFS prediction, and could be incorporated with other clinical parameters for better patient risk stratification.

APOBEC3B is a member of the cytosine deaminase family, which converts cytosine to uracil during RNA editing and retrovirus or retrotransposon restriction. Recent evidence has revealed that APOBEC3B-catalyzed genomic DNA deamination could provide genetic fuel for cancer development, metastasis, and even treatment resistance. The aim of this study was to assess the association between APOBEC3B expression and the risk of recurrence after surgery in patients with renal cell carcinoma (RCC).We retrospectively enrolled 299 consecutive patients with RCC who underwent nephrectomy at a single center in 2008. Clinicopathologic variables and recurrence-free survival (RFS) were recorded. APOBEC3B expression levels were determined by immunohistochemistry in tumor tissues. Kaplan-Meier method was applied to compare survival curves. Cox regression models were fitted to analyze the effect of prognostic factors on RFS. The Harrell concordance index was calculated to assess predictive accuracy.High APOBEC3B expression was associated with an increased risk of recurrence in patients with clear cell RCC (ccRCC) (P0.001) rather than in patients with non-ccRCC (P = 0.247). After backward elimination, APOBEC3B expression was identified as an independent prognostic factor for RFS in patients with clear cell histology (P = 0.016). The predictive accuracy of the Leibovich prognostic score was improved when APOBEC3B expression was incorporated. Notably, the improvement in prediction mainly took place in patients with low-risk disease defined by the Leibovich score.High APOBEC3B expression is an independent predictor of recurrence in patients with ccRCC, and the prognostic value is most prominent in those with low-risk disease.

Purpose Interleukin-1β (IL-1β) and IL-18 are products of activated inflammasomes that play central roles in innate immunity and inflammation. This study was aimed to determine the effect of tumor-derived IL-1β and IL-18 on recurrence and survival of patients with localized clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC) following surgery. Methods We retrospectively enrolled 267 patients with localized ccRCC undergoing nephrectomy at a single center. Clinicopathologic features, recurrence-free survival (RFS), and overall survival (OS) were recorded. IL-1β and IL-18 levels were assessed by immunohistochemistry in tumor tissues. The Kaplan-Meier method was used to compare survival curves. Cox regression models were used to analyze the effect of prognostic factors on RFS and OS. Concordance index was calculated to assess predictive accuracy. Results Both high IL-1β and high IL-18 levels were associated with increased risk of recurrence (P Conclusions The combined high expression of IL-1β and IL-18 is an independent predictor for poor prognosis in patients with localized ccRCC, and the prognostic value is more pronounced in patients with low-risk disease.