Overexpression of UHRF1 gene correlates with the major clinicopathological parameters in urinary bladder cancer

Recently, expression of the UHRF1 gene was found to be up-regulated in numerous neoplasms, including the urinary bladder transitional cell carcinoma (TCC).

The aim of our study was to determine if the expression levels of UHRF1 gene correlates with the major pathological characteristics of the tumor and patients' clinical outcome.

In our study, we have analyzed the tissue samples derived from group of 70 patients with histologically confirmed TCC of the urinary bladder, while normal urinary bladder mucosa obtained from 40 patients with nonmalignant diseases was used as a negative control group. Expression of UHRF1 gene in each patient sample was determined using reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction.

UHRF1 gene expression was found to be app. 2.5 times higher in samples from patients with TCC in comparison with normal epithelium derived from control group patients. Analysis show that gene expression correlates with the malignancy of the tumor. A highly significant differences were found between the expression values of samples from low and high grade TCC, as well as between the high grade and control group. UHRF1 expression was higher in patients with non-muscle invasive disease than in those with muscle invasive disease.

The result of this study indicates that UHRF1 gene expression levels correlates with the major pathological characteristics of TCC samples and with the clinical outcome of those patients. Determination of UHRF1 gene expression could have a potential to be used as a sensitive molecular marker in patients with urinary bladder cancer.

International braz j urol : official journal of the Brazilian Society of Urology. 2017 Jan 27 [Epub ahead of print]

Skender Saidi, Zivko Popov, Vesna Janevska, Sasho Panov

University Clinic of Urology in Skopje, Republic of Macedonia., Institute of Pathology, Medical Faculty, Ss. Cyril and Methodius University, Republic of Macedonia., Molecular Biology and Genetics Department, Institute of Biology, Faculty of Natural Sciences and Mathematics, Ss. Cyril and Methodius University, Skopje, Republic of Macedonia.