Prognostic value of carbonic anhydrase IX expression in penile squamous cell carcinoma: A pilot study

Objectives: To determine whether carbonic anhydrase IX (CA IX) has prognostic value of lymph node metastases and cancer-specific survival in penile squamous cell carcinoma treated with surgery. Materials and methods: CA IX expression was detected in the primary disease of 73 penile cancer patients using the method of immunohistochemistry. The expression levels of CA IX were categorized into 2 groups according to the cutoff of 10% of positively stained tumor cells. Associations between CA IX expression and clinicopathologic characteristics, immunoreactivity of p53 and Ki-67, and outcomes were analyzed. Results: High CA IX expression was observed in 31(42.5%) of cases. CA IX expression was not associated with patient age, T stage, grade, lymphovascular invasion, and Ki-67 expression, but was associated with p53 expression (P = 0.015). Both univariate and multivariate analysis failed to show CA IX expression was a statistically significant predictor of lymph node metastases and cancer-specific survival. Conclusions: Immunohistochemical expression of CA IX did not associate with lymph node metastases and cancer-specific survival in penile squamous cell carcinoma. A panel of prognostic markers that reflect the characteristic of tumor cell and organ microenvironment may be more suitable for prognostication in penile cancer. (C) 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.