[Expression of Caspase-3 and Bcl-2 in bladder transitional carcinoma and their significance].

BACKGROUND & OBJECTIVE: Tumor growth was the result of cell excessive proliferation and lack of apoptosis. Apoptosis has been considered to be closely associated with Caspase-3 and Bcl-2. This study was designed to investigate the expression of Caspase-3 and Bcl-2 to evaluate their effects on the tumorigenesis and progression in bladder transitional carcinoma (BTCC). METHODS: The immunohistochemistry (SP method) was used to determine the expression of Caspase-3 and Bcl-2 in 52 cases of BTCC and 10 normal bladder mucosas. RESULTS: The protein expression level of Caspase-3 in BTCC (53.8%,28/52) was significantly lower than that in normal bladder samples (90.0%,9/10). Caspase-3 expression level was correlated with the grades of BTCC (P< 0.05), but had no significant correlation with clinical stages. The protein expression of Bcl-2 in BTCC (51.9%,27/52) was significantly higher than that of normal bladder samples (20.0%,2/10), while its expression level was not related to stage and grade of BTCC (P >0.05). The expression of Caspase-3 is negatively related to that of Bcl-2 (r(s)=-0.659,P< 0.01) in bladder tissues. CONCLUSION: Both over expression of Caspase-3 and descended expression of Bcl-2 may play an important role in the tumorigenesis and apoptotic regulation of bladder tissues.