ORLANDO, FL (UroToday) - The authors tested whether p53 expression could predict disease recurrence and disease-specific survival after radical cystectomy in patients with pT1-2N0M0 urothelial carcinoma of the bladder (UCB). They evaluated 272 patients from five centers who had pT1-2N0M0 bladder cancer treated with radical cystectomy and bilateral lymphadenectomy (median follow-up: 5 and 12 years, respectively). None of the patients received neoadjuvant or adjuvant chemotherapy.

Overall, 33.5% of patients had altered expression of p53 (p53alt) and 18% died of bladder cancer. In multivariate analyses, patients with p53alt tumors had a significantly increased hazard ratio for both disease recurrence (4.88; p