Expression and significance of caspase-3 and Ki-67 in bladder transitional cell carcinomas

Objective: To investigate the expression of caspase-3 protein and Ki-67 in bladder transitional cell carcinomas (BTCC) and its relationship with the grading and staging of the tumor.Methods: The expression of caspase-3 protein and Ki-67 in 55 cases of bladder transitional cell carcinomas and 10 cases of normal bladder mucosas were determined by immuohistochemisitry (SP method).Results: The positive expression of caspase-3 in BTCC (47.3%) was significantly lower than that in normal bladder mucosas (90.0%).The expression level of caspase-3 was positively correlated with the histological grades of BTCC (P<0.05).No positive expression of Ki-67 was observed in normal bladder mucosas,while it was 52.7% in BTCC (P<0.01).The expression of Ki-67 was related positively with the histological grade and negatively with the tumor stage of BTCC (P<0.05).Conclusions: Caspase-3 is closely correlated with the tumorigenesis of BTCC,and may act as a useful marker of invasion of BTCC.Increased expression of Ki-67 maybe related with the genesis and development of BTCC.