A study of p53 and Bcl-2 genes expression and their relation to histopathological variables using DNA in situ hybridization in bladder cancer patients

Abstract

Bladder carcinoma (BC) is one of the most common cancers worldwide, it accounts for 6.5% of all cancers, with highest incidence in industrialized countries. The investigation of p53 and bcl-2 expression by using in situ hybridization technique on the formalin fixed paraffin embedded sections and studying their relationships with the histopathological variables (type cells, grade, stage, and invasiveness) of bladder cancer was our aim of this work. In this study we have investigated p53 and bcl2 genes expression as tumor markers in BC. In situ hybridization technique was used to quantitate these markers in tumor tissues. A total of 50 bladder cancer tissues were examined compared with twelve cystitis tissue sections as control group. The results revealed significant differences between p53 and bcl2 overexpression (p=0.001) for both markers. A significant positive correlation between p53 and bcl-2 expression with grade) p=0.003, p=005 respectively) and invasiveness were found (p= 0.002, p= 0.007 respectively), while both gene expression were found to be negatively associated with other histological variables (histological type, stage, gender and age group). The intensity of p53 and bcl-2 overexpression revealed correlation with high grade (p=0.005, p=0.04) respectively, and invasive status (p = 0.01, p=0.05) respectively. In conclusion, this study confirms that p53 and bcl-2 play crucial roles in carcinogenesis process and BC management.