T-zone histiocytes and recurrence of papillary urothelial bladder carcinoma.

We have studied the histologic distribution and prognostic significance of T-zone histiocytes (TZH) in 89 papillary urothelial bladder carcinomas (PUC), 3 cases of nonspecific cystitis (NC) and 4 cases of follicular cystitis (FC) by immunohistochemical determination of S-100 protein. Nineteen (21.37%) of the PUC cases have been found to have TZH S-100-positive with a variable density intratumor, along the papillary axis, or in the lymphoid aggregates of the vesical wall. All four FC cases were also TZH-positive, with a distribution and density similar to those of follicular dendritic cells of lymph nodes, although none of the 3 NC cases presented TZH. The recurrence-free period was significantly (p less than 0.05) longer in TZH-positive patients.