Low interleukin-1α messenger RNA levels predict decreased overall survival time of patients with urinary bladder carcinoma

Due to our inability to exactly characterize tumours, many patients with urinary bladder cancer undergo unnecessary surgery or cytostatic therapy. We have here studied the expression of the cytokine interleukin-1α (IL-1α) in 73 human bladder carcinomas in relation to patient survival, and examined possible relationships between IL-1α and urokinase plasminogen activator (uPA) expression. Expression levels of IL-1α and uPA mRNA were determined by RT-PCR using the quantitative TaqMan technique. The levels of IL-1α mRNA expression did not differ significantly between tumours of different grade or stage. Calculation of the overall survival rates showed a decreased overall survival time for patients with low levels of IL-1α mRNA in their tumours (log rank; P = 0.0002, median follow up: 37 months). Low tumoral IL-1α expression predicted decreased survival of patients with poorly differentiated tumours (P< 0.005) and of patients with invasive tumours (P = 0.02). uPA expression was about 4-fold increased in poorly differentiated tumours. High levels of uPA mRNA were associated with decreased overall survival times (log rank; P = 0.032, n = 60). We conclude that IL-1α is important for bladder cancer biology, and that measurements of this cytokine may be useful in pre-treatment characterization of urinary bladder cancer. © 2001 Cancer Research Campaign http://www.bjcancer.com