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OBJECTIVE To investigate the patterns of expression of the junctional proteins β-catenin and claudins in different prognostic groups of patients with prostatic cancer, to determine their value as prognostic markers. PATIENTS AND METHODS We evaluated the samples of 30 patients who had a radical prostatectomy for organ-confined cancer (pT2N0M0), men with clinically advanced cancer, and a control group with benign prostatic hyperplasia. Using immunohistochemistry applied to tissue microarrays, each group was evaluated for claudin-1, -2, -3, -4, -5, -7, -8 and -10, and β-catenin expression. RESULTS There were differences among the three groups in the expression of claudin-1 ( P = 0.001), -2 ( P = 0.014), -3 ( P = 0.027), -4 ( P = 0.001), -8 ( P = 0.001) and β-catenin ( P = 0.002), regardless of Gleason score. By contrast, claudin-5, -7 and -10 patterns were not significantly different among the groups. Furthermore, claudin-1 ( P = 0.014) and -4 ( P = 0.004) could be used to distinguish between those patients who had metastases and those who did not. CONCLUSIONS The pattern of claudin expression could be a novel diagnostic marker in re-classifying adenocarcinomas, and an additional sensitive predictive factor for a clinically poor prognosis. Our results suggest that patients with organ-confined and advanced cancer are subsets with distinct claudin expression profiles, and that claudin-4 is related to cellular differentiation in prostate cancer, which is not only the receptor molecule for the Clostridium perfringens enterotoxin, and thus a theoretical future therapeutic target for prostate cancer, but also a marker of progression. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: Cisplatin-based chemotherapy represents the gold standard in the treatment of advanced bladder cancer (BC) both in the neoadjuvant and adjuvant setting. Since novel immunooncologic agents are available for cisplatin-resistant or ineligible patients, biological markers for the prediction of cisplatin resistance become more important in treatment decisions. Therefore, we aimed to assess the therapy predictive value of 8 promising tissue biomarkers with regard to cisplatin therapy.Methods: Emmprin, survivin, HMGA2, MTA1, RhoGDI, PEG10, TGM2, and TLN1 expressions were analyzed in paraffin-embedded bladder cancer tissue samples of 106 patients who underwent adjuvant or salvage cisplatin-based chemotherapy by using immunohistochemistry. Results were correlated with the clinicopathological and follow-up data by performing both univariable and multivariable survival analyses.Results: Higher HMGA2 nuclear staining intensity and positive survivin nuclear staining were associated with worse overall survival (OS) (P = 0.045 and P = 0.002, respectively). In accordance, survivin nuclear staining also significantly correlated with shorter progression free survival (PFS, P = 0.024), while HMGA2 nuclear positivity tended to correlate with shorter PFS (P = 0.069) after at least 2 cycles of chemotherapy. In the multivariable analyses only survivin remained as an independent predictor of both OS and PFS (P = 0.008 and P = 0.025). None of the other markers proved to be significant predictors of adjuvant or salvage cisplatin-based chemotherapy.Conclusions: Our results demonstrate that survivin represents a promising marker for the prediction of cisplatin resistance in BC. In addition the therapy predictive role of HMGA2 should be further investigated. Immunohistochemical analysis of BC samples provides a feasible way for the prediction of cisplatin-resistance and may therefore provide a valuable tool for optimizing treatment decisions in advanced BC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]