Apoptosis and chemotherapy for bladder cancer.

Purpose: We discuss the role of apoptosis, that is gene directed self-destruction of a cell, in the response of bladder transitional cell carcinoma cells to chemotherapy.

Materials And Methods: A directed MEDLINE literature search of apoptosis, bladder cancer and chemotherapy was performed to extract relevant information for review. The characteristics of apoptotic cells were defined and the methods in common use to detect these traits is described.