Significance of the detection of spontaneous apoptosis and the expression of p27kip1 in transitional cell carcinoma of bladder

Objective To investigate the clinical significance of the rate of spontaneous apoptosis and the expression of p27kip1 in transitional cell carcinoma of bladder (BTCC). Methods Immunohistochemical analysis of p27kip1 was performed on paraffin embedded tissue sections in 50 cases of BTCC, by immunohistochemical method S-P. The terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase- mediated dUTP- biotin nick end labeling (TUNEL) was used to examine the level of apoptotic cells in 50 cases of BTCC. Results In BTCC, the spontaneous apoptosis index AI was (3.0±1.5)%, the positive rate of p27kip1 was 58.0 %(29/50). Both of them decreased with the escalation of the clinicopathologic grade and stage. The positive expression of p27kip1 protein were significantly associated with higher spontaneous apoptosis (P 0.05). Conclusion The spontaneous apoptosis and the p27kip1 protein were correlated closely with the malignant degree and progression in BTCC. Evaluating both of them contributes to our understanding of the biological behaviors of BTCC.