Significance of CLASP2 expression in prognosis for muscle-invasive bladder cancer patients: A propensity score-based analysis

• Published in: Urologic oncology Vol. 37; no. 10; pp. 800 - 807
• Main Authors: Chen, Lingxiao, Xiong, Wei, Guo, Wei, Su, Shitong, Qi, Lin, Zhu, Bisong, Mo, Miao, Jiang, Huichuan, Li, Yuan
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Elsevier Inc 01.10.2019
• Subjects: Adjuvant chemotherapy; Cytoplasmic linker-associated protein 2; Muscle invasive bladder cancer; Prognosis; BC; Adjuvant chemotherapy; AC; Prognosis; PS; OS; IHC; Muscle invasive bladder cancer; EMT; DFS; TNM; UICC; ECOG; Cytoplasmic linker-associated protein 2; MIBC; GC; RC-PLND; CLASP2
• ISSN: 1078-1439; 1873-2496
• DOI: 10.1016/j.urolonc.2019.05.003

•CLASP2 expression was shown to be a significant marker representing progression and aggressiveness of bladder cancer.•Propensity score-based analysis revealed that high CLASP2 expression predicts poor prognosis of MIBC patients after radical surgery.•MIBC patients with low CLASP2 expression tended to have an improved prognosis by receiving adjuvant chemotherapy after radical surgery. Cytoplasmic linker-associated protein 2 (CLASP2) belongs to a family of microtubule plus-end tracking proteins that localize to the distal ends of microtubules and is involved in various microtubule-dependent processes. We previously showed that CLASP2 is involved in the epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition of bladder urothelial cancer. This research aimed to explore the significance of CLASP2 expression as a prognostic marker for muscle-invasive bladder urothelial cancer (MIBC) patients after radical cystectomy-pelvic lymph node dissection (RC-PLND). CLASP2 expression was analyzed in 76 benign bladder tissues and 160 MIBC tissues by tissue immunohistochemistry. Survival analysis and multiple regression analysis following propensity score matching were performed to investigate the correlation between high CLASP2 expression and MIBC patients’ survival. CLASP2 expression was increased in MIBC patients, especially those with high-stage tumors or lymph node metastasis. In the follow-up of MIBC patients after propensity score matching, whether MIBC patients received adjuvant chemotherapy after RC-PLND, high CLASP2 expression was significantly associated with a poor prognosis. MIBC patients with low CLASP2 expression who received adjuvant chemotherapy tended to have an improved survival prognosis. CLASP2 expression is correlated with malignant progression of MIBC. High CLASP2 expression predicted a poor prognosis for MIBC patients after RC-PLND.