Molecular Basis of Urinary Bladder Cancer
- 1 January 2013
- journal article
- review article
- Published by Ovid Technologies (Wolters Kluwer Health) in Advances in Anatomic Pathology
- Vol. 20 (1), 53-60
- https://doi.org/10.1097/pap.0b013e31827bd0ec
Abstract
Bladder cancer is a relatively common and potentially life-threatening neoplasm. The diagnosis of urothelial carcinoma usually entails a lifelong surveillance to detect recurrent disease. In recent years, significant progress has been made in understanding the molecular mechanisms of carcinogenesis in urinary bladder. An early step in the process of carcinoma development is establishment of a premalignant abnormal urothelial patch that may give rise to various types of urothelial carcinoma and may provide a fertile ground for development of multifocal synchronous and metachronous tumors. Two distinct molecular pathways are involved. Low-grade papillary carcinoma is associated with mutation in the FGFR3 or in some cases mutations in RAS genes. High-grade in situ/muscle-invasive carcinoma on the other hand is characterized by alteration of p53 and pRB. Loss of function of these key genes, which play a crucial role in the control of cell cycle, leads to accumulation of additional mutations and deletions of genes resulting in an aggressive phenotype. It is hoped that a thorough understanding of the molecular basis of urothelial cancer will facilitate early diagnosis and will lead to development of new modalities for the management and treatment of these carcinomas.Keywords
This publication has 34 references indexed in Scilit:
- Bladder cancer, a review of the environmental risk factorsEnvironmental Health, 2012
- Cancer stem cells in bladder cancer: a revisited and evolving conceptCurrent Opinion in Urology, 2010
- Molecular genetics of bladder cancer: Emerging mechanisms of tumor initiation and progressionUrologic Oncology, 2010
- A review on the current state of urine cytology emphasizing the role of fluorescence in situ hybridization as an adjunct to diagnosisCancer Cytopathology, 2010
- Environmental factors and genetic susceptibility promote urinary bladder cancerToxicology Letters, 2010
- Molecular genesis of non-muscle-invasive urothelial carcinoma (NMIUC)Expert Reviews in Molecular Medicine, 2010
- Deficiency of pRb Family Proteins and p53 in Invasive Urothelial TumorigenesisCancer Research, 2009
- Urothelial carcinoma: Stem cells on the edgeCancer and Metastasis Reviews, 2009
- Arsenic in drinking water and bladder cancer: review of epidemiological evidencePublished by Elsevier BV ,2007
- Molecular Evidence Supporting Field Effect in Urothelial CarcinogenesisClinical Cancer Research, 2005