Expression and Prognostic Significance of Bcl-2 and Bax in the Progression and Clinical Outcome of Transitional Bladder Cell Carcinoma

Objective: to evaluate the mrna expression ratio of bcl-2/bax both in normal and tumoralbladdertissuesof patients with transitional cellcarcinoma(tcc) of bladder andinvestigatepotential correlation between this expression ratio and clinical outcome.materials and methods: in this experimental study, we used real time-pcr to investigatethe expression of bcl-2 and bax both in normal and tumoral bladder tissues. the bcl-2/bax expression ratio was determined in tumoral bladder tissues of patients with transitionalcellcarcinomaof the bladder (n=40)and correlation betweenexpression ratiosandtheemergence of early relapses in a follow-up of 14-30 months was examined.results: relapse-free time in 14/31 patients (45.16%) with bcl-2/bax > 1 was shorter than9 months (range of 2-9 months) with 5.7 months average median while 17/31 patients(54.84%) with bcl-2/bax < 1 are currently relapse-free (14-30 months). bcl-2 and bax expressionlevels were not solely correlated with clinical outcomeand progression ofcarcinogenesis.conclusion: the mrna expression ratio of bcl-2/bax in tumoral bladder tissues mayserve as a significant prognostic indicator in predicting the clinical outcome in low gradenon-invasive bladder cancer.