Expression of p53 in urothelial cell cultures from tumour-bearing and tumour-free patients

An explant culture technique was used to culture normal urothelium from patients with muscle-invasive bladder cancer (transitional cell carcinoma, TCC) (n = 11) and from non-tumour-bearing patients (n = 60). Cell cultures were examined for expression of p53 using the monoclonal antibody p53-240. There was a statistically significant increase in p53 expression in normal urothelial cell cultures from patients with TCC (P < 0.0005). Normal urothelial cultures from patients with TCC also showed more rapid proliferation in vitro when compared with non-tumour-bearing patients (P < 0.0005). A subgroup of non-tumour-bearing patients (n = 14) showed > 5% of cells expressing …