Commentary on “Circulating angiostatin, bFGF, and Tie2/TEK levels and their prognostic impact in bladder cancer.” Szarvas T, Jäger T, Laszlo V, Kramer G, Klingler HC, vom Dorp F, Romics I, Ergün S, Rübben H, Department of Urology, University of Duisburg-E

AbstractPurpose y was performed to assess the role and prognostic significance of angiostatin, basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF), and tyrosine endothelial kinase (TEK/Tie2) in transitional cell bladder carcinoma. als and methods tatin, bFGF, and TEK serum concentrations were measured in 82 bladder cancer patients and 20 age-matched healthy controls using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Results were compared with clinicopathologic and follow-up data with the Mann-Whitney U test and Kaplan-Meier, univariate and multivariate Cox regression analyses. s nd significantly decreased angiostatin and TEK serum levels and mildly elevated bFGF concentrations in samples of bladder cancer patients compared with controls (P<.001, P<.001, and P = .083, respectively). Furthermore, high TEK serum levels were correlated with poor disease-specific and metastasis-free survival in muscle-invasive bladder cancer (P = .013, P = .018), whereas angiostatin and bFGF concentrations did not show any correlation with patientsʹ prognosis. Multivariate analysis revealed high TEK levels (<1.60 ng/mL) as borderline significant independent risk-factor of disease-specific survival (HR 1.83, 95% CI 0.97–3.44, P = .061) and metastasis-free survival (HR 2.65, 95% CI 0.93–7.55, P = .069). sion aracteristic differences in the circulating levels of angiostatin, TEK, and bFGF between patients and controls, suggest the presence of a tumor-induced proangiogenic milieu in bladder cancer. Serum TEK levels may contribute to a more reliable preoperative risk stratification in muscle-invasive bladder cancer and therefore may help to optimize therapeutic decisions.