Introduction: Bladder cancer is a disease characterized by multiple recurrences. Some investigators assume urokinase to be involved in the causation of bladder cancer, although there is lack of genetic evidence. Our aim was to evaluate whether polymorphism of the urokinase gene is associated with transitional cell carcinoma (TCC) of the urinary bladder. Materials and Methods: The study included 100 patients (mean age 62.5 ± 10.2 years) with TCC of urinary bladder and 150 healthy controls (mean age 60 ± 11.5 years) living in the same area. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-based restriction analysis was used to identify the C/T polymorphism of the urokinase gene. Genotyping distribution and allelic frequencies between patients and controls were compared. Results and Conclusion: There was a significant difference in the frequency distribution of the urokinase gene 3′-UTR C/T polymorphism in bladder cancer patients as compared to the normal control group (p < 0.05), but no significant difference in allelic frequencies or in carriage rates between bladder cancer patients and normal controls were observed. Our study suggests that urokinase gene polymorphism may be associated with bladder cancer and can thus serve as a potential genetic marker in screening for the possible causes of bladder cancer. Perhaps analysis of patients with superficial bladder TCC and mutated urokinase might help clarify this aspect in large cohort studies in different populations.

Keywords:
Urokinase, Bladder cancer, Single nucleotide polymorphism, Polymerase chain reaction
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© 2006 S. Karger AG, Basel
2006
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