The surgical strategy for gallbladder cancer (GBC) depends on the extent of the disease. Thus, the identification of useful prognostic markers exerting strong prognostic impact for each T stage would be beneficial in the development of rational therapeutic strategies. The purpose of this study was to identify useful prognostic markers of GBC for each T stage. CD8+ tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TIL), Ki-67 labeling index (LI), p53 nuclear expression and mitotic count (MC) were investigated as candidate prognostic markers. In total, 86 patients with invasive GBC were included. Of the prognostic markers examined, only MC showed a correlation with reduced survival (P=0.0383) in the univariate analysis of overall T stage. In the univariate analysis of T2 stage (n=31), only high p53 expression correlated with survival showing a positive correlation (P=0.0154). In the univariate analysis of T3 stage (n=40), the only factor showing a significant correlation with survival was MC (P=0.0113). Multivariate analysis, including N and M as factors, identified only MC as an independent prognostic factor in T3 stage GBC (P=0.0419). In conclusion, this study demonstrated the strong prognostic impact of MC in GBC, particularly in patients with T3 tumor.
Keywords: Ki-67 labeling index; gallbladder cancer; mitotic counts; p53; tumor infiltrative lymphocyte.