P53 GENE MUTATION IN RECURRENT SUPERFICIAL BLADDER-CANCER

Surgical specimens from 30 patients with transitional cell carcinoma o f the bladder were examined for the presence of mutation of the p53 tu mor suppressor gene using polymerase chain reaction-single strand conf ormation polymorphism (PCR-SSCP) analysis. All of the specimens were s uperficial, low grade cancer, and 10 patients had recurrences during a n observation period of 24 months following the initial surgical treat ment. Among the 30 patients with superficial bladder cancer, 4 were fo und to have the mutated p53 gene and 3 of them had recurrences, which involved either invasive or high grade tumors. Two of these recurrent tumors with the p53 gene mutation showed identical mutations with thos e primary tumors, whereas the other one did not have the same mutation . The data suggest that bladder cancers with a mutation of the p53 gen e have a greater probability of poor prognosis than those which do not , even if the primary lesion was a superficial, low grade tumor. There fore, the presence of the p53 gene mutation may provide important clue s to the factors involved in bladder cancer.