PURPOSE: To assess the prognostic value of sex for non-muscle-invasive/muscle-invasive bladder urothelial carcinoma (NMIBC/MIBC) treated with radical surgery. METHODS: The PubMed, Web of Science, and Scopus databases were searched in November 2021 according to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-analysis statement. Studies were deemed eligible if they involved the comparison of the overall, cancer-specific, progression, and recurrence-free survival of patients with NMIBC/MIBC. Formal sex-stratified meta-analyses of these outcomes were performed. RESULTS: Thirty-one studies, which included 32,525 patients with NMIBC, and 63 studies, which included 85,132 patients with MIBC, were eligible for review and meta-analysis. Female sex was associated with worse cancer-specific survival (pooled hazard ratio [HR], 1.21; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.11-1.31) and overall survival (pooled HR, 1.02; 95% CI, 1.00-1.05) in patients with MIBC. In contrast, however, sex was not associated with cancer-specific survival (pooled HR, 1.01; 95% CI, 0.70-1.46), progression-free survival (pooled HR, 1.04; 95% CI, 0.88-1.24), and recurrence-free survival (pooled HR, 1.06; 95% CI, 0.98-1.16) in patients with NMIBC. CONCLUSIONS: Sex is associated with an increased risk of worse survival outcomes in patients with MIBC but not in those with NMIBC. Given the genetic and social differences between sexes, sex may represent a key factor in the clinical decision-making process.

• Keywords
• Meta-analysis, Muscle-invasive bladder urothelial carcinoma, Non-muscle-invasive bladder urothelial carcinoma, Sex,
• MeSH
• Carcinoma, Transitional Cell * pathology   MeSH
• Humans MeSH
• Urinary Bladder pathology   MeSH
• Urinary Bladder Neoplasms * pathology   MeSH
• Prognosis MeSH
• Proportional Hazards Models MeSH
• Check Tag
• Humans MeSH
• Female MeSH
• Publication type
• Journal Article MeSH
• Meta-Analysis MeSH
• Systematic Review MeSH

BACKGROUND: Angiogenesis-related marker vascular cell adhesion molecule-1 (VCAM-1) has been shown to be elevated in urothelial carcinoma of the bladder (UCB), but its predictive/prognostic role has not been determined. Thus, this study aimed to investigate the predictive/prognostic role of VCAM-1 for patients who have UCB treated with radical cystectomy (RC). METHODS: The study enrolled 1036 patients with clinically non-metastatic advanced UCB who underwent RC, and plasma VCAM-1 was evaluated preoperatively. The correlation of plasma VCAM-1 with pathologic and survival outcomes was assessed using binominal logistic regression and multivariable Cox regression analyses. Discrimination was assessed using the area under the curve and concordance indices. The clinical net benefit was evaluated using decision curve analysis (DCA). RESULTS: Preoperative VCAM-1 was significantly elevated in patients with adverse pathologic features. Higher VCAM-1 levels were independently associated with increased risk of lymph-node-metastasis (LNM), ≥pT3 disease, and non-organ-confined disease (NOCD (p < 0.001 for each). Preoperative plasma VCAM-1 was independently associated with recurrence-free survival (RFS), cancer-specific survival (CSS), and overall survival (OS) in pre- and postoperative multivariable models. Adding VCAM-1 to these predictive models improved their discriminatory ability to predict all outcomes by a significant margin. In the DCA, VCAM-1 addition to the reference models for prediction of LNM, NOCD, RFS, and CSS resulted in relevant improvement. CONCLUSIONS: Elevated plasma VCAM-1 was associated with biologically and clinically aggressive UCB disease features. After validation, preoperative VCAM-1 may serve as a biomarker to help identify patients likely to benefit from intensified/multimodal therapy. In addition, VCAM-1 improved the discriminatory power of predictive/prognostic models and can be used to refine personalized clinical decision-making.

• MeSH
• Vascular Cell Adhesion Molecule-1 MeSH
• Cystectomy MeSH
• Carcinoma, Transitional Cell * pathology   surgery   MeSH
• Humans MeSH
• Lymphatic Metastasis MeSH
• Urinary Bladder pathology   MeSH
• Urinary Bladder Neoplasms * pathology   MeSH
• Prognosis MeSH
• Retrospective Studies MeSH
• Treatment Outcome MeSH
• Check Tag
• Humans MeSH
• Publication type
• Journal Article MeSH
• Names of Substances
• Vascular Cell Adhesion Molecule-1 MeSH

• MeSH
• Biological Evolution MeSH
• Humans MeSH
• Urinary Bladder Neoplasms * genetics   MeSH
• Sex Characteristics * MeSH
• Check Tag
• Humans MeSH
• Publication type
• Journal Article MeSH
• Comment MeSH