Ki-67, p53, bcl-2 and bax expression in urothelial carcinomas of urinary bladder

Abstract

The most important predictive parameter for the biological behavior of urothelial carcinomas except depth of invasion is the histological grade of the tumor. However, crucial discordances arise between pathologists because of subjectivity in histological grading schemes and these discordances cause difficulties especially in lowgrade tumors. The number of studies aiming to predict the risk of recurrence and progression in urothelial carcinomas has therefore increased in recent years. Our aim in this study was to evaluate the relation of histopathological and clinical characteristics of urothelial carcinomas with proliferation and apoptosis markers and to determine predictive parameters for their biological behavior.