[Molecular biology in bladder cancer].

Progress of molecular biology with regard to etiopathogeny of tumours in general, and cancer of the bladder in particular, is taking place at such a vertiginous pace that practising urologists find themselves overwhelmed in terms of their ability to learn and keep updated in so complex a subject. The understanding of certain molecular factors with critical influence on the formation, growth and progression of a tumour of the bladder, is forcing us to make unbiased assessments on the role they will play in the evolution and survival of this neoplasia. It is anticipate they will be much more reliable than traditionally established morphological factors such as grade and stage. We also include a literature review with an analysis and elucidation of the role played by oncogenes, tumor suppressor genes, vascular density markers, telomerase etc., in the formation and growth of cancer of the bladder and their likely relationships with already established clinico-pathological factors.