Alternating expression levels of tumor suppressor and cancer-related genes in patients with bladder cancer.

The aim of the present study was to determine the roles of the tumor suppressor and cancer-related genes in bladder tumor carcinogenesis. Reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction was used to analyze the status of promoter methylation (using MethylScreen™ technology) and loss of heterozygosity (LOH) in papillary urothelial cancer tissues. The associations between the expression levels of the following tumorigenesis-related genes were also assessed: The tumor suppressor gene the proliferation gene, the and apoptotic genes, the signal transduction gene, the vascular endothelial growth factor gene, and the and cell cycle genes. The results reveal a high frequency of LOH in intron 1 in the gene, as well as an association between reduced expression levels and increased promoter methylation. In addition, the present study demonstrates that in bladder tumors, apoptosis is inhibited by increased expression levels of the gene. A correlation between the proliferation indices of the and the genes was also revealed Furthermore, the expression levels of were identified to be positively associated with those of the gene.