p53 AND MICROVESSEL DENSITY IN PRIMARY RESECTION SPECIMENS OF SUPERFICIAL BLADDER CANCER

Purpose: p53 Regulates angiogenesis in fibrosarcoma and correlative studies suggest a similar role for muscle invasive bladder cancer. We evaluated the associations of p53 status and microvessel density with pathological features and clinical outcomes in a large population of patients with superficial bladder cancer. In addition, we assessed the correlation of p53 status with microvessel density, which would suggest the regulation of angiogenesis by p53.Materials and Methods: We stained 84 primary bladder resection specimens, including 55 stage pTa, 29 stage pT1, 27 grade 1, 35 grade 2 and 22 grade 3 samples, for p53, CD31 and CD34. The relationships of p53 or microvessel density and tumor stage-grade or clinical recurrence-progression were analyzed by analysis of variance and pairwise comparison analysis for least significant difference, and Pearson correlation coefficients. Only patients with no previous biopsy were included in analysis to preclude interference by granulation tissue related neovasculari...