Prognostic value of pre-treatment risk stratification and post-treatment neutrophil/lymphocyte ratio change for pembrolizumab in patients with advanced urothelial carcinoma.

Background: Pembrolizumab is effective in a limited number of patients with advanced urothelial carcinoma (UC). Therefore, we evaluated the prognostic value of clinical biomarkers following pembrolizumab treatment in patients with advanced UC.

Methods: We retrospectively reviewed the medical records of 121 patients with platinum-refractory advanced UC who received pembrolizumab.

Identification of curable high-risk prostate cancer using radical prostatectomy alone: who are the good candidates for undergoing radical prostatectomy among patients with high-risk prostate cancer?

Background: Currently, there is no consensus regarding which patients with high-risk prostate cancer (PCa) would benefit the most by radical prostatectomy (RP). We aimed to identify patients with high-risk PCa who are treatable by RP alone.

Methods: We retrospectively reviewed data on 315 patients with D'Amico high-risk PCa who were treated using RP without neoadjuvant or adjuvant therapy at the institutions of the Yamaguchi Uro-Oncology Group between 2009 and 2013.

Use of preoperative performance status and hemoglobin concentration to predict overall survival for patients aged ≥ 75 years after radical cystectomy for treatment of bladder cancer.

Background: The standard of care for treatment of localized muscle-invasive bladder cancer (MIBC) is radical cystectomy (RC). The patient's condition may affect management of MIBC, especially for elderly patients with more comorbid conditions and lower performance status. We retrospectively evaluated the association between clinicopathological data and outcomes for patients with bladder cancer (BCa) treated by RC.

Impact of variant histology on disease aggressiveness and outcome after nephroureterectomy in Japanese patients with upper tract urothelial carcinoma.

Background: Patients with urinary bladder urothelial carcinoma (UC) with variant histology have features of more advanced disease and a likelihood of poorer survival than those with pure UC. We investigated the impact of variant histology on disease aggressiveness and clinical outcome after radical nephroureterectomy (RNU) in Japanese patients with upper tract UC (UTUC). Information on variant histology might guide appropriate patient selection for adjuvant therapy after RNU.

Risk group stratification based on preoperative factors to predict survival after nephroureterectomy in patients with upper urinary tract urothelial carcinoma.

Background: After radical nephroureterectomy (RNU), substantial numbers of patients with upper urinary tract urothelial carcinoma (UUT-UC) are ineligible for adjuvant chemotherapy owing to diminished renal function. Accurate preoperative prediction of survival is considered important because neoadjuvant chemotherapy may be as effective for high-risk UUT-UC as for muscle-invasive bladder cancer. We performed risk group stratification to predict survival based on specific preoperative factors.

Can docetaxel therapy improve overall survival from primary therapy compared with androgen-deprivation therapy alone in Japanese patients with castration-resistant prostate cancer? A multi-institutional cooperative study.

Background: To verify the actual clinical benefit of docetaxel (DOC) therapy and to explore the prognostic factors that may predict overall survival in Japanese patients with castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC).

Methods: Baseline characteristics-matched CRPC patients who received conventional androgen-deprivation therapy (ADT) or ADT plus DOC were compared retrospectively. The primary endpoint was overall survival (OS) from primary therapy.

Risk group stratification to predict recurrence after transurethral resection in Japanese patients with stage Ta and T1 bladder tumours: validation study on the European Association of Urology guidelines.

Objective: • To validate the European Association of Urology (EAU) guidelines on risk group stratification to predict recurrence in Japanese patients with stage Ta and T1 bladder tumours.

Patients And Methods: • A cohort of 592 Japanese patients who were treated with transurethral resection (TUR) and histopathologically diagnosed with Ta and T1 urothelial carcinoma of the bladder were enrolled in this retrospective study. • The primary endpoint of the present study was recurrence-free survival, and the median follow-up duration was 37 months in recurrence-free survivors.

Haploinsufficiency of 8p22 may influence cancer-specific survival in prostate cancer.

Although Knudson's two-hit hypothesis with functional loss of a tumor suppressor gene has been widely accepted, accumulating evidence suggests that several genes are regulated by the quantity of their product in a dose-dependent manner (gene dosage effect). The study was designed to identify the influence of gene dosage effect of 8p22 on patient prognosis. With a median age of 71 years, 40 patients with prostate cancer (11 organ-confined, 13 capsular penetrating, and 16 nodal and/or distant metastatic) were followed for a median of 68.

Deletion mapping of 18q in conventional renal cell carcinoma.

Loss of heterozygosity (LOH) is frequently associated with the inactivation of tumor suppressor genes. 18q LOH has been frequently reported in colorectal cancer and lung cancer; however, allelic loss on 18q has not been investigated in renal cell carcinoma (RCC). We evaluated LOH on 18q using nine microsatellite markers in 126 with conventional RCC (cRCC).

Smoking may cause genetic alterations at 5q22.2 approximately q23.1 in clear-cell renal cell carcinoma.

The aim of this study was to examine the relationship between allelic imbalance (AI) on chromosome 5q and clinico-pathologic parameters, including cigarette smoking. We examined the AI on chromosome 5q in 119 clear-cell renal cell carcinomas (CRCC) by a fluorescent polymerase chain reaction technique using nine microsatellite markers. AI of one or more loci was found in 43 cases (36.

Allelic loss of 3p25 associated with alterations of 5q22.3 approximately q23.2 may affect the prognosis of conventional renal cell carcinoma.

Little is known about the clinical significance at the frequent association of 3p loss with 5q gain/loss in conventional renal cell carcinoma (RCC). We analyzed the clinical significance of copy number gain and loss at 5q21 approximately q23 combined with allelic loss of 3p25 (including the VHL gene). Fifty RCCs were examined by dual-color fluorescence in situ hybridization with DNA probes for D3Z1 (3cen), cCI3-865 (3p25.

Clinical significance of lymph node dissection in renal cell carcinoma.

Objective: To identify the role of lymph node dissection in renal cell carcinoma (RCC).

Material And Methods: A total of 100 patients (66 males, 34 females) were enrolled in the study. The mean age and tumor size were 61.

Centrosome hyperamplification predicts progression and tumor recurrence in bladder cancer.

Purpose: Recent studies have reported that centrosome hyperamplification (CH) is closely related to chromosomal instability in bladder cancer. In this study, we investigated whether CH could be used as a prognostic biomarker for patients with bladder cancer.

Experimental Design: CH was evaluated by immunohistochemistry in 50 bladder cancers (< or =pT1: 43; > or =pT2: 7).

Association of a haplotype of matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)-1 and MMP-3 polymorphisms with renal cell carcinoma.

It has been shown that the matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)-1 promoter polymorphism 1G/2G is associated with an increased risk of developing various cancers including renal cell carcinoma (RCC), and is in linkage disequilibrium (LD) with the MMP-3 promoter polymorphism 5A/6A. These two genes are localized in 11q22 adjacent to each other. However, the relationship between the MMP-3 5A/6A polymorphism and susceptibility to cancer remains ambiguous.

DNA sequence copy number aberrations in prostate cancers: a comparison of comparative genomic hybridization data between Japan and European countries.

Incidence of prostate cancer in Japan and resultant mortality rates are lower than in Western countries. To elucidate the reasons behind this, the genetic characteristics of prostate cancer in Japanese patients were investigated. Comparative genomic hybridization was applied in 27 cases of prostate cancers in Japanese patients.

Bax to Bcl-2 ratio and Ki-67 index are useful predictors of neoadjuvant chemoradiation therapy in bladder cancer.

Objective: In this study, locally advanced bladder cancer was treated by radiation combined with cisplatin therapy and a retrospective analysis was conducted to predict the clinical response to chemoradiotherapy (CRT) based on the immunohistochemistry of apoptosis-related proteins.

Methods: Sixty-two patients (median age, 68 years; range, 45-89 years) with transitional cell carcinoma of the bladder (pT1G3-pT4M0) treated with CRT (median dose: 40.5 Gy of radiation and 230 mg of cisplatin) were studied.

Accuracy of an array comparative genomic hybridization (CGH) technique in detecting DNA copy number aberrations: comparison with conventional CGH and loss of heterozygosity analysis in prostate cancer.

Although genomic DNA microarray (array comparative genomic hybridization [CGH]) technique is a rapid and powerful diagnostic tool for the comprehensive analysis of detailed chromosomal alterations of DNA copy numbers, its accuracy has not been well demonstrated. To clarify the accuracy of this technique, we applied array CGH spotted with 283 specific genes to 11 clinical prostate cancers, and the results were compared with comparative genomic hybridization (conventional CGH) and loss of heterozygosity (LOH) analysis using microsatellite DNA markers. The overall rate of correspondence between array CGH and conventional CGH with respect to the loss of DNA sequences was 94.

Granulocyte colony-stimulating factor may promote proliferation of human bladder cancer cells mediated by basic fibroblast growth factor.

Objectives: To investigate whether granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF) promotes the proliferation of two bladder cancer cell lines, and to assess the mechanism of tumor proliferation in terms of cytokine expression.

Material And Methods: The proliferation of two bladder cancer cell lines derived from transitional cell carcinoma (KK-47 and T-24) was assessed by using the double-layer soft agarose colony assay in combination with the 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide assay. Seven cytokines were measured in the culture supernatant.

A single nucleotide polymorphism in the matrix metalloproteinase-1 promoter is associated with conventional renal cell carcinoma.

Matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)-1 is associated with tumor cell invasion and metastasis, and its promoter polymorphism has been shown to influence the transcriptional level. Our study explored the association between this polymorphism and renal cell carcinoma in a Japanese population. DNA was extracted from peripheral blood and normal tissue of 119 patients with conventional renal cell carcinoma (RCC) and from 210 age- and sex-matched healthy volunteers.

Urinary interleukin-2 may predict clinical outcome of intravesical bacillus Calmette-Guérin immunotherapy for carcinoma in situ of the bladder.

Purpose: The mechanism by which bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) mediates antitumor activity has not been clearly established. Specific cytokines in the urine after BCG intravesical instillation therapy may serve as a prognostic factor of treatment response. In this study, various urinary cytokines such as interleukin-1beta (IL-1beta), IL-2, IL-6, IL-8.

Clinical significance of chromosome 8p, 10q, and 16q deletions in prostate cancer.

Background: We lack simple and reliable diagnostic tools to predict pathological staging as well as further progression of prostate cancer in individual cases.

Methods: We studied deletions on 8p (8p22 and 8p23-pter), 10q (10q24-qter), and 16q (16q24) by fluorescence in situ hybridization in 53 specimens from patients with prostate cancer, and compared the status of these deletions with various clinical parameters. Forty-five cases were further evaluated regarding disease progression with a median follow-up period of 62 months.

Renal cell carcinoma: allelic loss at chromosome 9 using the fluorescent multiplex-polymerase chain reaction technique.

Loss of tumor-suppressor genes on both arms of chromosome 9 appears to be common in many types of cancer. Chromosome 9q is often partially deleted in bladder cancer, lung cancer, and basal cell carcinoma. However, little data are available on allelic loss on chromosome 9 in renal cell carcinoma (RCC).

Clinical significance of allelic loss of chromosome region 5q22.3 approximately q23.2 in nonpapillary renal cell carcinoma.

To analyze the clinical significance of copy number gain and loss at chromosome region 5q21 approximately q23, 105 nonpapillary renal cell carcinomas (RCC) were examined by interphase cytogenetic analysis using the dual-color fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) technique. DNA probes for D5S23 (5p15.2), cCI5-243 (5q21.