High expression of tight junction protein 1 as a predictive biomarker for bladder cancer grade and staging

Yi-Chen Lee; Kuo-Wang Tsai; Jia-Bin Liao; Wei-Ting Kuo; Yu-Chan Chang; Yi-Fang Yang

doi:10.1038/s41598-022-05631-y

High expression of tight junction protein 1 as a predictive biomarker for bladder cancer grade and staging

Sci Rep. 2022 Jan 27;12(1):1496. doi: 10.1038/s41598-022-05631-y.

Authors

Yi-Chen Lee^{1

2}, Kuo-Wang Tsai³, Jia-Bin Liao⁴, Wei-Ting Kuo^{5

6}, Yu-Chan Chang⁷, Yi-Fang Yang⁸

Affiliations

¹ Department of Anatomy, School of Medicine, College of Medicine, Kaohsiung Medical University, Kaohsiung, Taiwan.
² Department of Medical Research, Kaohsiung Medical University Hospital, Kaohsiung, Taiwan.
³ Department of Research, Taipei Tzu Chi Hospital, Buddhist Tzu Chi Medical Foundation, New Taipei City, Taiwan.
⁴ Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Kaohsiung Veterans General Hospital, Kaohsiung, Taiwan.
⁵ Division of Urology, Department of Surgery, Kaohsiung Veterans General Hospital, Kaohsiung, Taiwan.
⁶ School of Medicine, National Yang-Ming University, Taipei, Taiwan.
⁷ Department of Biomedical Imaging and Radiological Sciences, National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University, Taipei, Taiwan.
⁸ Department of Medical Education and Research, Kaohsiung Veterans General Hospital, No. 386, Dajhong 1st Rd., Zuoying Dist., Kaohsiung, 81362, Taiwan. yvonne845040@gmail.com.

Abstract

Tight junction proteins 1-3 (TJP1-3) are components of tight junctions that can link transmembrane proteins to the actin cytoskeleton, and their incidence directly correlates to metastasis. However, the role of the TJP family in bladder cancer has not been adequately evaluated. In this study, we evaluated the genetic changes, mRNA and protein expressions of the target genes of the TJP family in bladder cancer patients using online database and immunohistochemistry, respectively. We found that TJP1 was amplified in bladder cancer tissue and that the protein expression levels were significantly associated with age (p = 0.03), grade (p = 0.007), and stage (p = 0.011). We also examined the correlation between TJP1 and other high-frequency mutation genes using TIMER. TJP1 mRNA levels were positively correlated with TTN and RYR3 mRNA levels in bladder cancer tissue. Taken together, TJP1 expression is associated with poor clinical outcomes in patients with bladder cancer and can be a useful predictive biomarker for bladder cancer staging.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Zonula Occludens-1 Protein*

Substances

TJP1 protein, human
Zonula Occludens-1 Protein