Fig. 6

Impact of IL-1 on bladder cancer progression. a IL-1ra staining intensity in a cohort of 105 patients with UBC measured semiquantitatively by IHC. Controls (benign urothelium) showed a higher IL1-ra expression than in patients with cancer. No significant difference was found between low grade and high grade tumours. The staining intensity score was defined as follows: no staining = 1, low intensity = 2, moderate intensity = 3 and high intensity = 4. * P ≤ 0.05. n.s. = not significant. Representative IHC images are shown in b-c. Scale bar corresponds to 500 μm. b IHC very low staining intensity (score = 1). c Intermediate staining intensity (score = 3). d High staining intensity (score = 4). e High IL-1β mRNA levels were linked to adverse clinicopathological features high grade disease, muscle invasiveness and tumour progression. MIBC: muscle invasive bladder cancer, NMIBC: non-muscle invasive bladder cancer; * P ≤ 0.05