Background: Growing interest has been recently directed towards the roles of cancer metabolism in carcinogenesis with "Warburg effect" being the signature of cancer metabolism. Pyruvate kinase M2 (PKM2) is a crucial regulator of the Warburg effect. Epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) has been also involved in different metabolic pathways. Aim: This study aimed to investigate the immunohistochemical expression of PKM2 and EGFR in urothelial carcinoma. Furthermore, we analyzed the relation between PKM2 and EGFR with the available clinicopathologic parameters. Materials and Methods: PKM2 and EGFR immunostaining was performed on 70 specimens of urothelial carcinoma of the urinary bladder. Results: PKM2 was highly expressed in 62.9% of cases. High PKM2 expression was significantly associated with high-grade (P=0.003), muscle invasion (P=0.002), advanced T staging (P=0.001), and concomitant carcinoma in situ (P=0.013). EGFR expression was detected in 68.6% of cases. EGFR expression was significantly higher in high-grade tumors (P=0.013), muscle-invasive tumors (P<0.001), tumors with advanced T staging (P<0.001), and tumors with lympho-vascular invasion (P=0.016). There was a statistically significant positive correlation between both PKM2 and EGFR expression (r= 0.640, P <0.001). Conclusions: The expression of PKM2 and EGFR is positively correlated in urothelial carcinoma. High expression of PKM2 and EGFR is associated with high tumor grade, advanced T staging, and muscle invasion. Thus, they might be potentially valuable in predicting cancer prognosis in patients with urothelial carcinoma.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.