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ABSTRACT. We examined the expression of anti-apoptotic genes and apoptotic genes (cytochrome c, caspase-9, Apaf-1) in tissue samples of patients with superficial bladder cancer. Thirtytwo bladder cancer tissue samples (8 papillary urothelial neoplasm of low malignant potential, 10 low-grade, and 14 high-grade) and 8 normal bladder tissue samples from necropsy were used for the study of gene expression by real-time PCR analysis. Analysis of the expression of apoptotic gene constituents of an apoptosome demonstrated an increase in Apaf-1 expression in the three tumor grades when compared with the control (P < 0.01, P < 0.05, and P < 0.01), low expression of caspase-9 in all groups (P < 0.05), and an increase in cytochrome c expression in Intrinsic pathways of apoptosis in bladder cancer all tumor grades in relation to the control, although without statistically significant difference. The expression of anti-apoptotic genes revealed an increase in XIAP expression in all tumor grades in relation to the control, although without statistically significant difference, and low expression of Bcl-2 in all tumor grades and the control (P < 0.05). The results proved that there is low evidence of apoptotic activity by the intrinsic pathway, demonstrated by the low expression of caspase-9 and considerable increase in XIAP expression, which may render these genes potential therapeutic targets in bladder cancer treatment.

e22208 Background: The penile cancer is a rare condition in European men. The treatment can cause physiological and/or psychological problems in patients. The comprehension of the disease behavior can provides new, non-invasive therapeutic interventions. For this reason, the protein expression of apoptotic genes (caspase-3, caspase-8, bcl-2) were analysed with the immunohistochemistry technique, correlating with tumor grade (I, II and III) and with the patient survival in order to understand the basic mechanism of tumoral transformation. It is beyond doubt that studies related with penile cancer and its mechanism of apoptosis is scarce in the literature. Therefore, this study can contribute with information about this disease. Methods: The immunohistochemistry reactions on 50 samples of squamous cell carcinoma were carried out with the avidina-biotina-imunoperoxidase method with antigen recovery. The analyses were made using the graduation method ‘in crosses‘ (0 to 4 crosses - no stain to more than 75% of positives cells) and in categories (low, intermediate, high) of the cytoplasm immunoreactivity of the epidermoide penile carcinoma cells. Results: It was observed a statistically significant difference when the expression of caspase-3 were compared with the grades I and II of the tumor (p=0.0010) and when comparing the patient survival with the grades I and II of the tumor (p=0.0212). The protein expression of caspase-3 and caspase-8 was lesser in relation to bcl-2, suggesting that the apoptotics rate in this carcinoma is low. The higher expression of the anti-apoptotic protein bcl-2 suggests a higher preservation of the tumoral cells. Conclusions: The analysis did not showed correlation between the proteins expression with the survival curve of patients. No significant financial relationships to disclose.

The aim was to analyze the protein expression of apoptotic genes caspase-3, caspase-8 and bcl-2 with the immunohistochemistry technique, correlating with tumor grade (I, II and III) and with the patient survival in order to understand the basic mechanism of tumoral transformation. The immunohistochemistry reactions on 50 samples of squamous cell carcinoma were carried out with the avidin-biotin immunoperoxidase method and antigen recovery. The analyses were made using the graduation method "in crosses" (0 to 4 crosses-no stain to more than 75% of positives cells) and in categories (low, intermediate, high) of the cytoplasm immunoreactivity of the epidermoid penile carcinoma cells. It was observed a statistically significant difference when the expression of caspase-3 were compared with the grades I and II of the tumor (p=0.0010) and when comparing the patient survival with the grades I and II of the tumor (p=0.0212). The protein bcl-2 was more expressed than caspase-3 and caspase-8 proteins, suggesting that the apoptotic rate in this carcinoma is low. The higher expression of the anti-apoptotic protein bcl-2 suggests a higher preservation of the tumoral cells.