Is Bcl-2 a predictive marker of neoadjuvant chemotherapy response in patients with urothelial bladder cancer undergoing radical cystectomy?

Figures & data

Figure 1. Immunohistochemistry images (×20 magnification): (a) Negative Bcl-2 expression of tumor cells (lymphocytes are immunoreactive and can be observed), (b) Positive Bcl-2 expression of tumor cells.

Table 1. Clinicopathological characteristics of all 236 eligible patients (no statistical differences were detected between neoadjuvant and cystectomy groups).

		Bcl-2 negative (n = 146)		Bcl-2 positive (n = 90)
		Neoadjuvant (n = 67)	Cystectomy (n = 79)	Neoadjuvant (n = 52)	Cystectomy (n = 38)
Gender	Male	53 (79%)	64 (81%)	43 (83%)	34 (89%)
	Female	14 (21%)	15 (19%)	9 (17%)	4 (11%)
Mean age		63 (±9)	63 (±9)	64 (±7)	63 (±8)
T stage	cT2	31 (46%)	32 (41%)	24 (46%)	12 (32%)
	cT3–4	36 (54%)	47 (59%)	28 (54%)	26 (68%)

Figure 2. Kaplan-Meier overall survival curves for patients with or without neoadjuvant chemotherapy and different Bcl-2 status.

Table 2. Multivariate Cox regression analyses of all 236 patients evaluating associated co-factors for survival.

	H.R.	95% C.I.	p
Gender (F/M)	1.23	0.76–1.97	0.39
Age	1.01	1.00–1.04	0.21
T-category (T3–4/T2)	1.47	0.99–2.18	0.06
Trial (N.C.S.2/N.C.S.1)	1.26	0.80–2.00	0.33
Neoadjuvant chemotherapy (no/yes)	1.64	1.11–2.41	0.01
Bcl-2 (neg/pos)	1.50	1.00–2.27	0.05