With this letter to the editor we present for the first time a study on CHEK2 expression in normal urothelium of healthy male smokers, former smokers and non-smokers. We could show a statistically significant downregulation of this DNA repair gene in current smokers compared to non-smokers, suggesting that smoking downregulates CHEK2 in normal urothelium, probably associated with an early step in carcinogenesis of urothelial bladder carcinoma.

Keywords:
Bladder, Bladder carcinoma, Immunohistochemistry, Transurethral resection, Etiology, Risk factor, CHEK2
1.
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Samanic C, Kogevinas M, Dosemeci M, et al: Smoking and bladder cancer in Spain: effects of tobacco type, timing, environmental tobacco smoke, and gender. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2006;15:1348-1354.
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Brennan P, McKay J, Moore L, et al: Uncommon CHEK2 mis-sense variant and reduced risk of tobacco-related cancers: case control study. Hum Mol Genet 2007;16:1794-1801.
4.
Złowocka E, Cybulski C, Górski B, et al: Germline mutations in the CHEK2 kinase gene are associated with an increased risk of bladder cancer. Int J Cancer 2008;122:583-586.
© 2016 S. Karger AG, Basel
2016
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