Evaluation of Clinical and Prognostic Roles of CCL8 in Urinary Bladder Cancer and Upper Tract Urothelial Carcinoma

This study investigated the clinical and prognostic roles of C-C motif chemokine ligand 8 (CCL8) in urinary bladder urothelial carcinoma (UBUC) and upper tract urothelial carcinoma (UTUC) to refine patient classification and enhance treatment strategies in precision medicine. We conducted a transcriptomic analysis using the GSE32894 data set from the Gene Expression Omnibus, including data from 308 patients with UBUC. We retrospectively analyzed the clinical characteristics, pathologic details, and survival data of 295 patients with UBUC and 340 patients with UTUC who underwent definitive surgery between 1998 and 2004. Immunohistochemical evaluation was performed on tumor specimens to assess CCL8 expression. Statistical analyses were conducted using the χ2 test, Kaplan-Meier survival curves, and Cox proportional hazards models. Transcriptomic analysis revealed that CCL8 expression was significantly upregulated in invasive UBUC. High CCL8 expression was associated with advanced tumor stage, nodal metastasis, high histologic grade, and poor prognosis in patients with UBUC and UTUC. Multivariate analysis identified high CCL8 expression as an independent predictor of disease-specific survival (P<0.001) and metastasis-free survival (P<0.001). In conclusion, high CCL8 expression negatively impacts the clinical outcomes and prognosis of patients with UBUC and UTUC. CCL8 has the potential to be a prognostic biomarker, aiding in patient stratification and treatment planning. Further multicenter studies with longer follow-up periods and functional validation are required to confirm these findings and fully understand the role of CCL8 in urothelial carcinoma.