Expression and clinical significance of Centrosomal protein 55 (CEP55) in human urinary bladder transitional cell carcinoma

Abstract

Bladder cancer (BC) is one among the most common and lethal urothelial malignancies worldwide. The expression of cancer-testis (CT) antigens in some tumours and restricted expression among normal tissues make CT antigens as attractive vaccine targets. In this context, we evaluated Centrosomal protein 55 kDa (CEP55), which is specifically expressed in normal human testis and various malignancies. Until the expression pattern of CEP55 in transitional cell carcinoma (TCC) of human urinary bladder and its clinical significance are not known. The aim of the present study is to evaluate mRNA/protein expression of CEP55 in TCCs of urinary bladder and correlate its expression with the clinicopathological characteristics of BC patients. In this study, the methods of quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) and immunohistochemistry (IHC) were used to investigate mRNA/protein expression of CEP55 in TCC. Independent Student's t test, ANOVA and Chi-square (χ(2)) were used to analyze the data statistically. We observed CEP55 mRNA overexpression in testis and 48.7% of BC patients. Relative mean fold expression of CEP55 mRNA was found to be significantly (p<0.01) higher in muscle-invasive bladder cancer (MIBC) as compared to non-muscle-invasive bladder cancer (NMIBC) patients (7.88±3.88 vs. 4.75±2.30, p=0.01). CEP55 protein expression was evaluated using IHC and cytoplasmic staining pattern was recorded in formalin fixed, paraffin-embedded (FFPE) bladder tumour tissues. No significant difference was observed in protein expression of CEP55 between the two groups (NMIBC and MIBC patients) (72.2% vs. 69.0%, p=0.774). No significant protein expression of CEP55 was observed among adjacent noncancerous tissues (ANCTs) and benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) used as control. Our study results suggest that CEP55 mRNA/protein expression was observed is specific to TCC of human urinary bladder and might be used as a diagnostic biomarker and vaccine target in development of BC specific immunotherapy.

Keywords: Bladder tumorigenesis; CEP55; Cancer-testis; Immunotherapy; Peptide vaccines; TURBT; Transitional cell carcinoma.