bcl-2/bax mRNA expression ratio as prognostic factor in low-grade urinary bladder cancer
✍ Scribed by Paola Gazzaniga; Angela Gradilone; Roberta Vercillo; Orietta Gandini; Ida Silvestri; Maria Napolitano; Loredana Albonici; Andrea Vincenzoni; Michele Gallucci; Luigi Frati; Anna-Maria Aglianó
- Publisher
- John Wiley and Sons
- Year
- 1996
- Tongue
- French
- Weight
- 510 KB
- Volume
- 69
- Category
- Article
- ISSN
- 0020-7136
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✦ Synopsis
Apoptotic cell death represents an important mechanism for the precise regulation of cell numbers, and a defence mechanism against tumoral cells. bcl-2 and bax genes are known to be involved in the control of apoptotic pathways; in particular, the ratio between bcl-2 and box represents a cell rheostat that is able to predict a cell's response toward life or death to an apoptotic stimulus. In the present study we investigated the role of bcl-2 and bax gene expression in a panel of 37 low-grade turnours of the urinary bladder, and correlated the expression of these genes to the prognosis of patients in a follow-up of more than one year. We found that levels of box expression higher than bcl-2 in bladder tumours well correlates to a better outcome for patients. Early relapses are much more frequently observed in those patients whose tumours express more bcl-2 than bax mRNA. We conclude that the bcl-2Ibax expression ratio may be considered as a marker for disease progression in low grade bladder tumours, independently of clinical staging and histological grading.