Hormonal receptors expression in urinary bladder cancer

Background: Urinary bladder cancer (UBC) is one of the top ten cancer types worldwide, with an annual incidence of 550,000 new cases. The incidence varies according to geographical regions, the highest rates were observed in Europe, North America, and Egyptian Syrian, and Turkish men. The lowest incidence was in Mexico, some Middle Eastern, Central Asian countries, and Sub-Saharan Africa. Estrogen receptor (ER) and progesterone receptor (PR) play an important role during tumorigenesis and the progression of several malignancies.
Objective: There is a need to evaluate hormonal receptors in UBC as this may help to play a role in hormonal treatment in UBC.
Methods: We investigated the expression of ER and PR in 168 UBC specimens, and its relation with clinicopathological features and survival data.
Results: We found that 33.3% of the included patients were hormone positive, (ER 23.2% and PR 20.8%). The ER status differed significantly according to the pathology, grade, and T stage. The highest prevalence of positive ER was observed in TCC pathology, grade I tumors, and T 1 or 2 stage tumors. Only the T stage had a significant relationship with PR status and was higher in T 1 or 2 tumors. The hormonal status differed significantly according to the pathology and T stage. We did not find a significant effect of ER, PR, or total HR status on OS.
Conclusions: There is a significant relation between ER status and pathology type, differentiation grade, and tumor stage. Further studies are needed to evaluate the role of hormonal treatment in the management of UBC.