Laboratory investigation; a journal of technical methods and pathology
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Many molecular alterations are known to occur in urothelial carcinoma of the bladder, but their significance for tumor progression is poorly understood. Deletions of chromosome 8p are frequently found in several tumor types and are often associated with progressive disease. In all, 99 bladder tumors were screened for deletions at 8p using loss of heterozygosity (LOH) and multicolor fluorescence in situ hybridization FISH analyses. ⋯ However, promoter methylation was detected using methylation-specific PCR in 29% of cases. In conclusion, we could show a close correlation of chromosome 8p deletions and progression of papillary bladder tumors. The sFRP1 gene on chromosome 8p12-11.1 could be a candidate gene for the predicted, progression-related tumor suppressor gene in bladder cancer and could contribute to urothelial carcinogenesis.