Immunocytochemistry of collagenase expression in transitional cell carcinoma of the bladder

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the usefulness of collagenase immunocytochemistry as well as its immunohistochemistry in assessing the correlation with prognos tic factors in transitional cell carcinoma (TCC) of the urinary bladder. STUDY DESIGN: We investigated the expression of collagenase in catheterized urine and histologic specimens from 38 patients with TCC and 20 cases with benign lesions of the urinary tract. RESULTS: Thirteen (34.2%) and 17 (44.7%) patients with TCC showed positive expression of collagenase on cytologic and histologic specimens, respective ly, whereas in no cases with benign lesions was such expression found (P<.0 1). Invasive and nonpapillary TCC had higher positive rates than noninvasiv e and papillary TCC. Grade 3 TCC was positive at a higher rate than was gra de 2, whereas there were no positive cases with grade 1. Collagenase expres sion did Mot correlate significantly with stage. CONCLUSION: Collagenase expression in urinary TCC correlated well with tumo r growth pattern, pathologic grade and invasiveness of the carcinoma; all a re known to be prognostic factors. The application of collagenase immunosta ining to urinary cytology is very useful for assessing prognosis in TCC.