p53 Codon 72 Polymorphism Was Associated with Vulnerability, Progression, but Not Prognosis of Bladder Cancer in a Taiwanese Population: An Implication of Structural Equation Modeling to Manage the Risks of Bladder Cancer

Introduction: p53 codon 72 polymorphism has been reported to be associated with bladder cancer incidence, progression and prognosis, but the association is still under debate. A tentative model was constructed to evaluate the association between p53 codon 72 polymorphism and bladder cancer. Subjects and Methods: In this study, a total of 554 participants were enrolled. The genotyping was carried out using PCR-RFLP and DNA direct sequencing. Results: The genotype distribution of p53 codon 72 polymorphism was significantly different between bladder cancer patients and controls (p = 0.039). In logistic regression, diagnostic age and genotype Pro/Pro were the risk factors for developing an invasive tumor. A 4.526-fold risk was estimated for the patients with Pro/Pro genotype as opposed to non-Pro/Pro genotype to develop invasive tumors. However, the extent of p53 codon 72 polymorphism did not predict bladder cancer prognosis. Conclusions: A conceptual mode was constructed; in addition, the moderating and mediating analysis was also carried out in a structural equation model to resolve possible confounding effects. Taken together, p53 codon 72 polymorphism may be associated with bladder cancer incidence and progression, but not prognosis. Further study is needed to evaluate the usefulness of the constructed model in risk assessment.