Objective: HER-2 is overexpressed in a variety of human malignant tumors and has been widely used in the prognosis and treatment of breast cancer. In urothelial cell carcinoma of the bladder, some reports have shown an association between HER-2 overexpression and worse outcomes. The aim of this study was to examine the association between HER-2 expression and other clinicopathologic parameters in 48 patients treated for primary non-muscle-invasive transitional cell carcinoma of the bladder. Methods: The initial expression of HER-2 in tumor specimens and its expression upon disease recurrence following instillation therapy (BCG, Mitomycin, or Epirubicin) were studied. Results: HER-2 expression was significantly increased between these two timepoints. In multivariate analysis, HER-2 expression at the time of diagnosis was found to be the only independent factor and was associated with reduced recurrence free survival. Conclusions: HER-2 status could be an additional biomarker for predicting the outcome of nonmuscle-invasive bladder cancer, which could help identify high-risk patients for recurrence and possible progression who require close observation and perhaps radical treatment, such as early cystectomy.

BackgroundImmunoglobulin A nephropathy (IgAN) is among the commonest glomerulonephritides in Greece and an important cause of end-stage kidney disease (ESKD) with an insidious chronic course. Thus, the recently published International IgAN prediction tool could potentially provide valuable risk stratification and guide the appropriate treatment module. This study aimed to externally validate this prediction tool using a patient cohort from the IgAN registry of the Greek Society of Nephrology.MethodsWe validated the predictive performance of the two full models (with or without race) derived from the International IgAN Prediction Tool study in the Greek Society of Nephrology registry of patients with IgAN using external validation of survival prediction models (Royston and Altman). The discrimination and calibration of the models were tested using the C-statistics and stratified analysis, coefficient of determination (RD2) for model fit, and the regression coefficient of the linear predictor (βPI), respectively.ResultsThe study included 264 patients with a median age of 39 (30–51) years where 65.2% are men. All patients were of Caucasian origin. The 5-year risk of the primary outcome (50% reduction in estimated glomerular filtration rate or ESKD) was 8%. The RD2 for the full models with and without race when applied to our cohort was 39 and 35%, respectively, and both were higher than the reported RD2 for the models applied to the original validation cohorts (26.3, 25.3, and 35.3%, respectively). Harrel's C statistic for the full model with race was 0.71, and for the model without race was 0.70. Renal survival curves in the subgroups (<16th, ~16 to <50th, ~50 to <84th, and >84th percentiles of linear predictor) showed adequate separation. However, the calibration proved not to be acceptable for both the models, and the risk probability was overestimated by the model.ConclusionsThe two full models with or without race were shown to accurately distinguish the highest and higher risk patients from patients with low and intermediate risk for disease progression in the Greek registry of IgAN.

BackgroundNatural history, predisposing factors to an unfavourable outcome and the effect of various therapeutic regimens were evaluated in a cohort of 457 patients with immunoglobulin A nephropathy (IgAN) and follow-up of at least 12 months.MethodsPatients with normal renal function and proteinuria <1 g/24 h as well as those with serum creatinine (SCr) >2.5 mg/dL and/or severe glomerulosclerosis received no treatment. Patients with normal or impaired renal function and proteinuria >1 g/24 h for >6 months received daily oral prednisolone or a 3-day course of intravenous (IV) methylprednisolone followed by oral prednisolone per os every other day or a combination of prednisolone and azathioprine. The clinical outcome was estimated using the primary endpoints of end-stage renal disease and/or doubling of baseline SCr.ResultsThe overall 10-year renal survival was 90.8%, while end-stage renal disease and doubling of baseline SCr developed in 9.2% and 14.7% of patients, respectively. Risk factors related to the primary endpoints were elevated baseline SCr, arterial hypertension, persistent proteinuria >0.5 g/24 h and severity of tubulointerstial fibrosis. There was no difference in the clinical outcome of patients treated by the two regimens of corticosteroids; nevertheless, remission of proteinuria was more frequent in patients who received IV methylprednisolone (P = 0.000). The combination of prednisolone with azathioprine was not superior to IV methylprednisolone followed by oral prednisolone. Side effects related to immunossuppressive drugs were observed in 12.8% of patients.ConclusionThe clinical outcome of patients with IgAN was related to the severity of clinical and histological involvement. The addition of azathioprine to a corticosteroid-based regimen for IgAN does not improve renal outcome.

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