Molecular mechanisms of squamous differentiation in urothelial cell carcinoma: a paradigm for molecular subtyping of urothelial cell carcinoma of the bladder

A comprehensive review of 3D cancer models for drug screening and translational research

The 3D cancer models fill the discovery gap of 2D cancer models and play an important role in cancer research. In addition to cancer cells, a range of other factors include the stroma, density and composition of extracellular matrix, cancer-associated immune cells (e.g., cancer-associated fibroblasts cancer cell-stroma interactions and subsequent interactions, and a number of other factors (e.g., tumor vasculature and tumor-like microenvironment in vivo) has been widely ignored in the 2D concept of culture. Despite this knowledge, the continued use of monolayer cell culture methods has led to the failure of a series of clinical trials. This review discusses the immense importance of tumor microenvironment (TME) recapitulation in cancer research, prioritizing the individual roles of TME elements in cancer histopathology. The TME provided by the 3D model fulfills the requirements of in vivo spatiotemporal arrangement, components, and is helpful in analyzing various different aspects of drug sensitivity in preclinical and clinical trials, some of which are discussed here. Furthermore, it discusses models for the co-assembly of different TME elements in vitro and focuses on their synergistic function and responsiveness as tumors. Furthermore, this review broadly describes of a handful of recently developed 3D models whose main focus is limited to drug development and their screening and/or the impact of this approach in preclinical and translational research.

Diagnostic Strategies for Urologic Cancer Using Expression Analysis of Various Oncogenic Surveillance Molecules—From Non-Coding Small RNAs to Cancer-Specific Proteins

Urinary-tract-related tumors are prone to simultaneous or heterogeneous multiple tumor development within the primary organ. Urologic tumors have a very high risk of recurrence in the long and short term. This may be related to the disruption of homeostasis on the genetic level, such as the induction of genetic mutations due to exposure to various carcinogenic factors and the disruption of cancer suppressor gene functions. It is essential to detect the cancer progression signals caused by genetic abnormalities and find treatment therapies. In this review, we discuss the usefulness of tumor-expressing clinical biomarkers for predicting cancer progression. Furthermore, we discuss various factors associated with disturbed intracellular signals and those targeted by microRNAs, which are representative of non-coding small RNAs.

Squamous differentiation is a potential biomarker predicting tumor progression in patients treated with pembrolizumab for urothelial carcinoma

Immune checkpoint inhibitor (ICI) is widely used and highly effective for some cancer patients but may result in disease progression in others. Hyperprogressive disease in particular is characterized by an acceleration of tumor growth during ICI therapy and has been reported in patients including those with urothelial carcinoma. Biomarkers predicting treatment efficacy are crucial to avoid tumor progression and unnecessary adverse effects. This study aims to clarify the predictors of disease progression for ICI treatment in patients with urothelial carcinoma. We analyzed the response pattern of 23 urothelial carcinomas treated with pembrolizumab and its association with pathological features and potential immunohistochemical markers including EGFR, MDM2, p53, p16, and programmed cell death ligand-1 (PD-L1) expression and CD8- and CD204-positive cell infiltration. During ICI therapy, 13 (57 %) patients showed progressive disease including 6 (26 %) with hyperprogressive disease. Notably, squamous differentiation combined with MAC387 expression was observed exclusively in cases with progressive disease (6 of 13, 46 %); it was not present in cases with stable disease or partial/complete response (0 of 10, p = 0.0019). All tumors with squamous differentiation showed positive staining for EGFR. Additionally, the loss of p16 expression occurred more frequently in cases with progressive disease (8 of 13, 62 %) than in other cases (3 of 10, 30 %), but this finding did not reach statistical significance. Squamous differentiation was also significantly associated with shorter overall survival. Based on our observations, squamous differentiation may be a novel biomarker for predicting disease progression in patients with urothelial carcinoma who receive pembrolizumab.

Assessing CD 10 Expression Level and Its Prognostic Impact in Egyptian Patients with Urothelial Carcinoma

Background and aim:

CD10 is expressed in urothelial carcinoma cells and cancer associated fibroblasts (CAF). In the current study, CD10 immunohistochemical staining (IHC) and CD10 mRNA expression in urothelial carcinoma of bladder (UCB) were assessed, and its relationship with tumor progression and prognosis was investigated.

Patients and Methods:

In this study, 106 formalin fixed paraffin-embedded (FFPE) tissue of UCB, obtained through radical cystectomy specimen, and 10 matched normal tissue samples were included.CD10 expression was evaluated by immunohistochemistry and real time PCR techniques.

Results:

CD10 expression in tumor cells and associated stromal fibroblasts was significantly associated with high tumor grade and advanced stage. Significant correlation was found between CD10 tumor expression and lymphovascular invasion (LVI) (P<0.001) as well as perineural invasion (PNI). CD10 expression in stromal fibroblasts was significantly associated with squamous differentiation of tumor cells, lymph node metastasis (LNM), and tumor necrosis. Positive CD10 expression in both tumor cells and associated stromal fibroblasts was associated with shorter OS . CD10 mRNA was overexpressed in tumors in comparison with the matched normal tissues. CD10 mRNA was significantly higher in invasive tumor, advanced stage tumor, and high grade tumor. There was significant correlation between CD10 mRNA tumor expression and LVI, PNI, and tumor recurrence.

Conclusion:

Increased expression of CD10 in the tumor and CAF was strongly correlated with tumor progression, invasion, metastasis, shorter OS, and RFS in urothelial carcinoma patients. CD10 mRNA showed significantly higher expression in tumor tissue than in matched normal tissue. CD10 mRNA was associated with depth of invasion, TNM stage, tumor grade, vascular tumor invasion, and tumor recurrence.

Molecular Pathologic Subtyping of Urothelial Bladder Carcinoma in Young Patients

Urothelial cancer is a heterogeneous disease with different molecular pathways that produce distinct molecular subtypes with specific characteristics and patient survival outcomes that require different therapeutic methods. Urothelial tumors in young patients appear to have distinct genetic features compared with their counterparts in older patients. Using a Lund subtype-specific immunohistochemistry panel, we performed molecular subtype profiling of an urothelial carcinoma case series (n = 49) in patients younger than 45 years of age. We demonstrate that the urothelial carcinoma in young patients tends to be of molecular urothelial-like A subtype (80%) and is associated with favorable, recurrent-free survival (P = .022). In the urothelial-like cluster, we identified a portion of patients (10%) with high-grade non-muscle-invasive cancers (so-called urothelial-like D type) that showed significantly higher levels of squamous differentiation and p16, E2F3, and ki67 expression in addition to aberrant expression of Ck20 and a trend toward lower recurrent-free survival (P = .057). Segregation of the cohort according to the decade of occurrence revealed that all tumors (n = 8) of patients younger than 30 years were clearly classified as urothelial-like A subtype. Statistically more aggressive molecular subtypes, such as urothelial-like D and basal/squamous-like (6%) subtypes, were identified in patients older than 30 years of age. Genomically unstable (2%) and mesenchymal-like (2%) subtypes were classified in the 40- to 44-year age group only. These data suggest that more aggressive molecular subtypes of bladder carcinoma appear and become more frequent with age. Further investigations are needed to validate this hypothesis.

Immunohistochemistry of cytokeratin (CK) 5/6, CD44 and CK20 as prognostic biomarkers of non-muscle-invasive papillary upper tract urothelial carcinoma

AIMS

Immunohistochemical (IHC) staining for cytokeratin (CK) 5/6, CD44 and CK20 has been significantly associated with the prognosis of urinary bladder urothelial carcinoma, and probably reflects its molecular characteristics. We aimed to investigate the IHC-based subgroups and their prognostic effects on non-muscle-invasive papillary upper tract urothelial carcinoma (UTUC).

METHODS AND RESULTS

IHC staining for CK5/6, CK20 and CD44 was analysed in 211 patients with non-muscle-invasive papillary UTUC. Staining was classified as showing a negative, positive or normal pattern. We found that CK5/6-negative, CD44-negative and CK20-positive tumours were distinctly high-risk subgroups that were associated with high grade (CK5/6-negative, P < 0.001; CD44-negative, P < 0.001; CK20-positive, P = 0.017) and frequent intravesical recurrence (CK5/6-negative, P = 0.002). Using survival analysis with Kaplan-Meier and log-rank tests, we found that these IHC subgroups were correlated with poor progression-free (CK5/6-negative, P = 0.001; CD44-negative, P = 0.009; CK20-positive, P = 0.031) and cancer-specific (CK5/6-negative, P = 0.009) survival. Furthermore, CK5/6 negativity was an independent prognostic factor for shorter progression-free (P = 0.009) and cancer-specific (P = 0.045) survival. CK5/6 improved Harrell's C-indices for progression-free (0.68-0.77, P = 0.029) and cancer-specific (0.59-0.77, P < 0.001) survival. When markers were combined, luminal-like subtypes showed poor prognoses.

CONCLUSIONS

We demonstrated that IHC staining for CK5/6, CD44 and CK20 was significantly associated with the clinicopathological characteristics and prognoses of patients with non-muscle-invasive papillary UTUC. The IHC subgroups may be correlated with the molecular characteristics of non-muscle-invasive papillary UTUC.

Tumor Evolution and Drug Response in Patient-Derived Organoid Models of Bladder Cancer

Bladder cancer is the fifth most prevalent cancer in the U.S., yet is understudied, and few laboratory models exist that reflect the biology of the human disease. Here, we describe a biobank of patient-derived organoid lines that recapitulates the histopathological and molecular diversity of human bladder cancer. Organoid lines can be established efficiently from patient biopsies acquired before and after disease recurrence and are interconvertible with orthotopic xenografts. Notably, organoid lines often retain parental tumor heterogeneity and exhibit a spectrum of genomic changes that are consistent with tumor evolution in culture. Analyses of drug response using bladder tumor organoids show partial correlations with mutational profiles, as well as changes associated with treatment resistance, and specific responses can be validated using xenografts in vivo. Our studies indicate that patient-derived bladder tumor organoids represent a faithful model system for studying tumor evolution and treatment response in the context of precision cancer medicine.

Bladder cancer: Present and future

Bladder cancer has a high incidence and involves high associated morbidity and mortality. Since its initial clinical suspicion, early diagnostic confirmation and multimodal treatment involve different medical specialties. For this reason, we consider it important to spread the current consensus for its management. Recent advances in immunology and Chemotherapy make it necessary to expose and reflect on future perspectives.

DNA methylation in urothelial carcinoma

DNA methylation alterations are common in urothelial carcinoma, a prevalent cancer worldwide caused predominantly by chemical carcinogens. Recent studies have proposed sets of hypermethylated genes as promising diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers from urine or tissue samples, which require validation. Other studies have revealed intriguing links between specific carcinogens and DNA methylation alterations in cancer tissues or blood that might clarify carcinogenesis mechanisms and aid prevention. Like DNA methylation alterations, mutations in chromatin regulators are frequent, underlining the importance of epigenetic changes. However, the relations between the two changes and their functions in urothelial carcinogenesis remain unclear. Transcription factor genes with altered methylation deserve particular interest. Elucidating the functional impact of methylation changes is a prerequisite for their therapeutic targeting.

Bladder Cancer Molecular Taxonomy: Summary from a Consensus Meeting

The advent of Omics technologies has been key to the molecular subclassification of urothelial bladder cancer. Several groups have used different strategies to this aim, with partially overlapping findings. The meeting at the Spanish National Cancer Research Center-CNIO was held to discuss such classifications and reach consensus where appropriate. After updated presentations on the work performed by the teams attending the meeting, a consensus was reached regarding the existence of a group of Basal-Squamous-like tumors – designated BASQ – charaterized the high expression of KRT5/6 and KRT14 and low/undetectable expression of FOXA1 and GATA3. An additional tumor subgroup with urothelial differentiation features was recognized whose optimal molecular definition is required. For other subtypes described, more work is needed to determine how robust they are and how to best define them at the molecular level.