The Expression And Significance Of Connexin26 And Connexin43 In Bladder Carcinoma

[Objectives] To investigate the role of connexin26 and connexin43 in the development of bladder carcinoma(BC), and to evaluate its clinical significance. [Methods] Paraffin-embedded tissue sections of 22 cases of normalbladder epithelium and 54 cases of bladder carcinoma were involved in this study, immunohistochemistry performed to detect the expression of connexin26 and connexin43. The expression levels were quantified by image analysis.[Results] In normal bladder epithelia cells and tumor cells, connexin26and connexin43 were high expressed in the kytoplasm or cell membrane , the expression of connexin26 and connexin43 in bladder transitional cell carcinoma (BTCC) were significantly lower (p<0. 01, p<0. 01). Furthermore, the expressions of connexin26 and connexin43 were significantly reduced as cancer cells became morphologically less differentiated (p<0.01,p<0.01). But there was no significant association between connexin26 or connexin43 and the clinic stage (p>0. 05, p>0. 05).[Conclusion] (1) The expression of connexin26 and connexin43 in bladdertransitional cell carcinoma increased with the decrease of cancer grade. (2) Lower or loss of connexin26 and connexin43 expression in bladder transitional cell carcinoma are considered to be important factor in the development of BTCC.