Significance of TWIST expression and its association with E-cadherin in bladder cancer

Summary Recently, TWIST, a basic helix-loop-helix transcription factor, has been reported to play a key role in the metastatic progression of several types of human cancer. The aim of this study was to investigate the significance of TWIST expression in bladder cancer using tissue microassays generated from 226 bladder tissue specimens. Using immunohistochemical staining, we studied TWIST expression levels in nonmalignant bladder tissues (n = 37), primary bladder cancer tissues (n = 164), and 25 cases of matched lymph node metastatic lesions. The association between TWIST expression levels and tumor staging and grading, as well as metastatic potential, was analyzed by statistical analysis. Our results showed that TWIST protein expression was significantly higher in bladder cancer specimens compared with nonmalignant tissues ( P P