Expression Of Heparanase Protein In Transitional Cell Carcinoma Of Bladder And Its Relationship To Tumor Invasion, Metastasis And Prognosis

[Objective] To study the expression of heparanase in transitional cell carcinoma of bladder (TCCB). and to investigate Correlation of heparanase expression to angiogenesis, invasion and metastasis , prognosis of bladder cancer.[Materials and methods] The expression of heparanase protein and microvessel formation was assessed by immunohistochemical staining in 80 bladder cancer specimens resected at various stages of disease and 20 non-tumor bladder tissues (controls). Correlation of heparanase expression to clinicopathologic factors and prognosis of bladder cancer was analyzed using chi-square test, t test, Kaplan—Meier test and Log —rank test.[Results] ①The overall positive rate of heparanase in 80 cases of bladder carcinoma was57.5 % (n = 46) . No heparanase was found in 20cases of non-tumor bladder tissues. ② With the progress of the tumor grade and clinical stage , the positive rate of HPA gene expression in TCCB increased. The positive rate of heparanase gene expression in muscular invasive bladder cancer was 80%, significantly higher than in superficial cancer (20%)(P<0.01). And the positive rate of heparanase gene expression in Grade I cases of TCCB was 22.73%, Grade Ⅱ and Grade Ⅲ cases was 62.07% and 79.31%. the difference of positive rates between Grade I and Grade Ⅱ, Grade Ⅲcases was significant(P<0.05),while there was no significance between Grade Ⅱ and Grade Ⅲcases(P>0.05). And it was higher in theprimary tumor of patients with lymph node metastatic cancer than those with non-metastatic cancer (P < 0.01). ?The mean microvessel count in cancers with heparanase gene expression was 45. 24+9. 95 , significantly higher than that in cancers without heparanase expression(34. 0 + 10.34) (K 0.01). (4)The 2,3,5-year survival rates of patients with heparanase expression were significantly lower than those of patients without it (fKO. 05, K0.05 and K0.01, respectively). Multivariate analysis showed that heparanase expression was a significantly independent prognostic factor.[ Conclusions ] Our study suggests that the expression of heparanase protein is associated with clinicopathologic factors and prognosis of bladder cancer . and our results indicate that expression of heparanase could be a new poor prognostic factor of this disease . and heparanase may have a role in angiogenesis, invasion and metastasis of bladder cancer, and thus, this molecule could be might be a promising molecular target for treatment of TCCB.