Increased BCL2L12 expression predicts the short-term relapse of patients with TaT1 bladder cancer following transurethral resection of bladder tumors

Abstract Objectives More than half of the diagnosed patients with bladder cancer (BCa) recur at least once following their initial treatment. Thus, patients' monitoring and prognosis is of utmost importance. However, the need for intensive surveillance of BCa significantly burdens patients' health-related quality of life. The aim of the present study is the expression analysis of BCL2L12 , a recently identified member of the BCL2 apoptosis-related gene family, in BCa and the evaluation of BCL2L12 prognostic significance for the survival outcome of the patients. Methods and materials Our study included 115 patients with BCa, and tissue specimens were obtained from the tumor area as well as from adjacent normal bladder wall. BCL2L12 expression was determined using quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction assay, and was further correlated with patients' clinicopathological features and follow-up survival data. Results Up-regulated BCL2L12 expression levels were detected in malignant bladder specimens compared with normal ones. The higher BCL2L12 expression was further associated with shorter disease-free survival of the patients with BCa. Focusing on patients with TaT1 non–muscle invasive BCa, BCL2L12 expression levels were correlated with higher recurrence rate at the first follow-up cystoscopy and were unveiled to be an independent unfavorable predictor of patients' short-term recurrence following transurethral resection. Finally, BCL2L12 expression levels were also associated with poor disease-free survival of the high-grade TaT1 patients. Conclusions Our data highlight the unfavorable prognostic value of BCL2L12 for patients with BCa and support its potential clinical use for the assessment of TaT1 patients' recurrence risk.