Expression of cytokeratin 20 in exfoliated urothelial cells of bladder cancer / 中华泌尿外科杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To study the expression of cytokeratin(CK)20 in exfoliated urothelial cells and to evaluate its clinical significance. Methods The expression of CK20 in exfoliated urothelial cells in 40 patients with bladder cancer and 20 subjects with normal urothelium was observed with immunohistochemical methods. Results The positive staining of CK20 in patients with bladder cancer was 52.5%, the expression of CK20 was negative in all controls, the positive rate of expression of CK20 combining with HE staining in patients with bladder cancer was 90%. The expression of CK20 was significantly higher in recurrent cases(80%) than in primary cases(43.3%). CK20 was not related to the tumor grade or stage. Conclusions The results suggested that the method had a higher specificity and therefore CK20 would be a good diagnostic marker.