Increased Expression Of Ccrl2 Is Correlated With Clinical Prognosis In Human Bladder Cancer

A large amount of evidence suggests that expression of chemokine (C-C motif) receptor-like 2 (CCRL2) is associated with tumorigenesis. However, the relationship of CCRL2 expression with bladder cancer remains unclear. The aim of the present study was to investigate the clinical significance and biological role of CCRL2 in bladder cancer. In the present study, CCRL2 mRNA levels in 10 pairs of bladder cancer and adjacent noncancerous tissue samples were detected using real-time quantitative reverse transcription PCR (RT-PCR). In addition, immunohistochemistry was performed to detect the expression of CCRL2 in 100 clinical bladder cancer tissue samples. Furthermore, the correlations between CCRL2 expression and clinicopathological features of bladder cancer were analyzed. The results showed that expression levels of CCRL2 were significantly higher in bladder cancer tissues compared with those in adjacent normal tissues (p < 0.05). In addition, high expression of CCRL2 was significantly associated with differentiation (p = 0.006), tumor types (p = 0.038), and recurrence (p = 0.023). According to Kaplan-Meier analysis, CCRL2 expression was closely correlated with overall survival (p = 0.005) of bladder cancer, but not with recurrence-free survival (p = 0.112). Moreover, Cox multivariate regression analyses revealed that CCRL2 expression was an independent predictor of overall survival (p = 0.018, hazard ratio = 2.697, confidence interval 1.161-6.264). The present study data suggest that expression of CCRL2 is closely associated with human bladder cancer, and this protein might be used as a new target and prognostic factor in human bladder cancer.