Association of Epithelial-to-Mesenchymal Transition Related Markers With Clinical Outcome in Non-Muscle Invasive and Muscle Invasive Bladder Cancer Patients.

Authors

R Singh, Singh Up, Minal Garg

Published in

Cell biochemistry and biophysics. Jun 25, 2026. Epub Jun 25, 2026.

Abstract

Clinical significance of epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT)-related markers was evaluated in a cohort of NMIBC (non-muscle invasive bladder cancer) and MIBC (muscle invasive bladder cancer) patients. Real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) and immunohistochemical (IHC) staining were carried out in 100 tumor specimens [59 NMIBC and 41 MIBC]. The expressions of the epithelial marker, mesenchymal markers and EMT-activating transcription factors (EMT-ATFs) were determined at mRNA and protein level followed by their statistical associations with clinicohistopathological variables of the patients. Expression of E-cadherin at mRNA level exhibited significant association with tumor type in NMIBC cohort and with age of MIBC patients. Association of mRNA levels of N-cadherin was reported with smoking/tobacco chewing status (S/TC) of NMIBC patients and with tumor type in MIBC cohort. Membranous expression of Vimentin protein showed significance with age of MIBC patients. Gene expression of Snail showed relevance with tumor type and S/TC status of NMIBC patients whereas its protein (nuclear) expression exhibited significance with tumor grade in NMIBC cohort. Nuclear expression of Slug showed significance with S/TC status of NMIBC patients. The study reported significances of gene levels of Twist with tumor stage and age of MIBC patients while its protein (nuclear) expression with tumor grade in NMIBC cohort. Zeb-1 mRNA levels exhibited statistical relevance with tumor stage while its protein (nuclear) expression with tumor grade in NMIBC patients. Survival analysis identified Vimentin as the predictor of short progression free survival (PFS) and short overall survival (OS) in MIBC patients. Study established altered EMT profile as an independent predictor of short recurrence free survival (RFS) in NMIBC patients and of short PFS and OS in MIBC patients. Observed significances of EMT-related markers with patients' clinicohistopathological variables as well as with their survival outcome may strengthen risk stratification and hence could be of importance in the clinical management of bladder cancer patients.

PMID:
42348111
Bibliographic data and abstract were imported from PubMed on 25 Jun 2026.

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