<i>ANLN</i> and <i>TLE2</i> in Muscle Invasive Bladder Cancer: A Functional and Clinical Evaluation Based on In Silico and In Vitro Data

• Main Authors: Sheng Wu, Katja Nitschke, Jakob Heinkele, Cleo-Aron Weis, Thomas Stefan Worst, Markus Eckstein, Stefan Porubsky, Philipp Erben
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2019-11-01
• Series: Cancers
• Subjects: muscle invasive bladder cancer; prognosis; biomarker; molecular subtype
• Online Access: https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6694/11/12/1840

<b>:</b> Anilin actin binding protein (ANLN) and transducing-like enhancer protein 2 (TLE2) are associated with cancer patient survival and progression. The impact of their gene expression on progression-free survival (PFS) of patients with muscle invasive bladder cancer (MIBC) treated with radical cystectomy (RC) and subtype association has not yet been investigated. qRT-PCR was used to measure the transcript levels of <i>ANLN</i> and <i>TLE2</i> in the Mannheim cohort, and validated in silico by The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) cohort. Uni- and multivariate Cox regression analyses identified predictors for disease-specific survival (DSS) and overall survival (OS). In the Mannheim cohort, tumors with high <i>ANLN</i> expression were associated with lower OS and DSS, while high <i>TLE2</i> expression was associated with a favorable OS. The TCGA cohort confirmed that high <i>ANLN</i> and low <i>TLE2</i> expression was associated with shorter OS and disease-free survival (DFS). In both cohorts, multivariate analyses showed <i>ANLN</i> and <i>TLE2</i> expression as independent outcome predictors. Furthermore, <i>ANLN</i> was more highly expressed in cell lines and patients with the basal subtype, while <i>TLE2</i> expression was higher in cell lines and patients with the luminal subtype. <i>ANLN</i> and <i>TLE2</i> are promising biomarkers for individualized bladder cancer therapy including cancer subclassification and informed MIBC prognosis.