Expression And Significance Of Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor In Normal Bladder Mucosa Of Patients With Bladder Cancer

Objective: In order to study the relationship between expression of epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) in normal bladder mucosa of patients with bladder cancer and the prognosis of bladder cancer,we used immunohistochemical analysis to detect 64 cases of bladder cancer and 6 cases of normal bladder. Materials and Methods. The hospital records of 64 patients treated with cystectomy or partial cystectomy for bladder cancer and 6 patients treated with prostatectomy for benign prostatic hyperplasia during 1998-2003 were retrospetive , In every case of tumor on the bladder wall, the biopsy was taken at least 3cm away from the neoplasm.All specimens were fixed in 10% formalin and were embedded in paraffin. Immunohistochemical staining was used to processed the specimens,using the monoclonal antibody EGFR. All the data were treated by statistics analysis such as chi-square test. Result:All the patients with benign prostatic hyperplasia were negative staining.57.81% of the patients with bladder tumors had positive results(37of64).20 cases were G1 and forty percent of them had positive results (8of20);27 were G2 and 55.56% of them were positive (15of27);17 were G3 and 82.3% of them were positive staining(14of17).EGFR positivity of high grade tumours was higher than low grade tumours.Chi square test revealed that pathological grade was significantly associated with EGFR expression(χ~2=6.22 p<0.05). 29 were PT1 and 48.28% of them were positive(14of29);25 were PT2 and 64% of them had positive results(16of25); 10 were PT3 and 70% of them had positive staining (7of10).Although positive immunostaining for EGFR was more frequent in higher stage of bladder carcinoma,the statistics analysis suggested that it had no siginificance(χ2=2.08 P>0.05);19 cases were recurrence and 78.95% of them had positive staining(15of19), 45 cases werenot recurrence and 48.89% of them had positive staining(22of45), EGFR positivity of cancer with recurrence is higher than those that had no recurrence and it had siginificance (χ2=4.95 P<0.05). Conclusion: Expression of EGFR in normal bladder mucosa of patients with bladder cancer is stronger than healthy bladder. It is possible that expression of EGFR in bladder mucosa rises earlier than the occurrence of tumor cells.EGFR plays an important role in the occurrence ,development and recurrence of tumours, may be a indicator to assess the prognosis of bladder cancer in earlier stage.