The difference between cytokeratin 20 expression in high- and low-grade urothelial bladder carcinomas: A cross-sectional study

Abstract Background: Bladder cancer is one of the most common cancers worldwide. Expression of cytokeratin 20 (CK 20) could be used as a biomarker in different epithelia to determine malignancy, especially in gastrointestinal, urinary tract, and Merkel cells. CK 20 could be detected in several urothelial carcinomas and was associated with bladder cancer recurrence. The study aimed to assess the utility of CK 20 expression for bladder cancer grading. Materials and Methods: This was a retrospective study assessing CK 20 expression in 73 bladder cancer patients who had transurethral resection of bladder tumor or cystectomy. The data were then collected and analyzed with SPSS Statistics version 20.0. Results: Fifty-six (76.7%) cases of high- and 17 (23.3%) cases of low-grade urothelial bladder cancer were examined for CK 20 expression. Positive expression was present in 57 (78.1%) samples. A significant difference ( P = 0.034) in CK 20 expression was observed between low-grade and high-grade urothelial carcinomas. Positive expression was seen in 44 (77.2%) high-grade cases and only 13 (22.8%) low-grade cases. Conclusion: The difference in the CK 20 expression was found to be statistically significant among different grades of bladder cancer but not to metastatic bladder cancer. Further, studies are required to establish CK 20 as a diagnostic tool. We suggest a combination with several markers to compare which is superior.