Investigation of p53, c-erbB-2, PCNA immunoreactivity, DNA content, AgNOR and apoptosis in bladder carcinoma as prognostic parameters.

The association between known prognostic variables such as TNM stage, histological grade and mutant p53 tumor suppressor gene product, c-erbB-2 oncoprotein, DNA ploidy and cell kinetic data, including mitoses, PCNA expression, AgNOR scores and apoptosis, was investigated in 29 transitional cell carcinoma (TCC) cases. A positive correlation between the histologic grade and all the studied parameters, except for c-erbB-2 expression, and a positive correlation between the stage and histological grade, DNA ploidy, mitoses, apoptosis and p53 expression were found. The results of this study are in accordance with some of the previous studies, except for apoptosis which had been studied for the first time in TCCs. Although we found a statistically significant correlation between the apoptosis and both tumor stage and histological grade, the predictive value of apoptosis as an independent prognostic factor remains to be established in a larger series.