The expression and clinical significance of CK20 in transitional cell carcinoma of human bladder

Objective To study the expression of cytokeratin(CK)20 in bladder transitional cell cancer and to evaluate its clinical significance. Methods Immunohistochemical method was used to evaluate the expression of CK20 in 30 patients with bladder transitional cell cancer,10 patients with bladder nontransitional cell cancer and 13 subjects with normal urothelium. Results The positive staining of CK20 in patients with bladder cancer was 63.3%(19/30), the expression of CK20 was negative in all controls. Positive expression of CK20 was statistically correlated with histological classifcation and grade. Conclusions The results suggested that overexpression of CK20 in bladder transitional cell cancer were related to tumors bilogical behavior,therefore CK20 would be used as a useful marker of a diagnosis,supplementary diagnosis and prognosis for the patients.