Various studies in western countries found Akt amplification to be a frequent event in human cancers, including bladder, but the correlation with clinicopathological features is controversial. Such studies have not been reported in African populations, including Tunisians.
The purpose of this study was to assess expression of the phosphorylated/activated forms of Akt in tumors from Tunisian patients with bladder cancer and to correlate its expression with pathological and clinical parameters of the disease. The study included 72 patients of whom 34 were diagnosed as low- to medium-grade and 35 as high-grade; 30 were muscle stage and 39 non-muscle stage. Primary tumors from these patients, normal adjacent tissues, or bladder cancer cell-lines were analyzed for Ser473 phosphorylated Akt expression by Western blot. Seventy-two percent of primary tumors from patients with bladder cancer had increased levels of p-Akt. The p-Akt levels in patients with high-grade bladder cancer were significantly elevated compared to patients with low- or medium-grade bladder cancer. In invasive carcinoma, the p-Akt level was significantly higher than in superficial non-invasive bladder tumors. Concerning the influence of tobacco on Akt activation, no significant differences of p-Akt expression were found between non-smoker and smoker patients. Altogether, our results suggest that Akt activation can provide useful prognostic information and that tobacco represents a serious risk factor for recurrence in a cohort of Tunisian patients.
Tumour biology : the journal of the International Society for Oncodevelopmental Biology and Medicine. 2015 Dec 23 [Epub ahead of print]
Islem Ben Bahria-Sediki, Carla Sampaio, Mohamed Chebil, Mohamed Cherif, Rachida Zermani, Soumaya Rammeh, Amel Ben Ammar El Gaaied, Ali Bettaieb
EPHE, Laboratoire d'Immunologie et Immunothérapie des Cancers, Paris, F-75014, France. , EPHE, Laboratoire d'Immunologie et Immunothérapie des Cancers, Paris, F-75014, France. , Hôpital Charles Nicolle de Tunis, Tunis, Tunisia. , Hôpital Charles Nicolle de Tunis, Tunis, Tunisia. , Hôpital Charles Nicolle de Tunis, Tunis, Tunisia. , Hôpital Charles Nicolle de Tunis, Tunis, Tunisia. , Laboratoire de Génétique, Immunologie et Pathologies Humaines, Faculté de Sciences Tunis, Université de Tunis El Manar, Tunis, Tunisia. EPHE, Laboratoire d'Immunologie et Immunothérapie des Cancers, Paris, F-75014, France.