Predictive Value of E-Cadherin, β-Catenin and SOX4 in Recurrence and/or Progression of Non-Muscle Invasive Urinary Bladder Transitional Cell Carcinoma. A Retrospective Study

Abstract Background Bladder cancer (BC) is one of the most common genitourinary cancers worldwide, the pathophysiology and etiology of BC are complicated, including both internal genetic and environmental factors. Currently, some studies suggest that the abnormal function of intercellular adhesion molecules is highly correlated with the invasion of surrounding tissues and distant organ metastasis of BC. Objective To develop a correlation between these markers and NMIBC and to help predict the recurrence and/or progression. Patients and Methods It is a retrospective cohort (observational) study assessing a correlation regarding the alternation in the expression of E-cadherin, β-catenin and SOX4 in determining the recurrence and/or progression and their prognostic value in NMIBC TCC. Patients Diagnosed with NMIBC TCC and their follow ups data were evaluated at the urology department in Theodor Bilharz Research Institute (TBRI) and Ain Shams University from January 2019 – till July 2022. Results Loss of normal expression of E-cadherin and β-catenin, upregulation of SOX4 is significantly correlated with BC and tumorigenesis, yet no clear relation between E-cadherin, β- catenin and SOX4 in progression or recurrence of NMIBC, regarding It’s staining intensity, percentage of positive cells and immunoreactive score (IRS). Conclusion bases on our current study, E-cadherin, β-catenin and SOX4 showed highly significance difference between normal urothelium and TCC NMIBC indicating it may have a role in diagnosis, although its value changes with follow up of the patients but of non-significant difference to predict prognosis, recurrence and/or progression among TCC NMIBC.