CATHEPSIN-D AND TNF-ALPHA IN BLADDER-CANCER

In a study of 34 normal healthy controls, 35 patients with urinary tra ct bilharziasis and 93 bladder cancer patients (62 of them are operabl e cases and 31 are non-operable ones), serum tumor necrosis factor alp ha (TNF-alpha) and cytosolic Cathepsin-D were estimated. Though both p otential markers were elevated in bladder cancer patients, neither Cat hepsin-D nor TNF-alpha showed associations of prognostic value since t here were no positive correlations with tumor stages, grades or associ ation of tumors with bilharzial ova or lymph node involvement.