Apoptotic cell death represents an important mechanism for the precise regulation of cell numbers in normal tissues. Various apoptosis-associated regulatory proteins, such as Bcl-2, Bax and Bcl-X, may contribute to the rate of apoptosis in neoplasia. The present study was performed to evaluate the prognostic value of these molecules in a group of 61 Wilms' tumours of chemotherapeutically pre-treated patients using an immunohistochemical approach. Generally, Bcl-2, Bax and for Bcl-X S/L were expressed in the blastemal and epithelial components of Wilms' tumour. Immunoreactive blastema cells were found in 53%, 41% and 38% of tumours for Bcl-2, Bax and for Bcl-X S/L, respectively. An increased expression of Bcl-2 was observed in the blastemal component of increasing pathological stages. In contrast, a gradual decline of Bax expression was observed in the blastemal component of tumours with increasing pathological stages. Also blastemal Bcl-X S/L expression decreased with stage. Univariate analysis showed that blastemal Bcl-2 expression and the Bcl-2/Bax ratio were indicative for clinical progression, whereas epithelial staining was of no prognostic value. Multivariate analysis showed that blastemal Bcl-2 expression is an independent prognostic marker for clinical progression besides stage. These findings demonstrate that alterations of the Bcl-2/Bax balance may influence the clinical outcome of Wilms' tumour patients by deregulation of programmed cell death.

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doi.org/10.1054/bjoc.2001.2146, hdl.handle.net/1765/71290
British Journal of Cancer
Department of Pathology

Ghanem, M., van der Kwast, T., den Hollander, J., Sudaryo, M. K., van den Heuvel-Eibrink, M., Noordzij, M., … van Steenbrugge, G. J. (2001). The prognostic significance of apoptosis-associated proteins Bcl-2, Bax and Bcl-X in clinical nephroblastoma. British Journal of Cancer, 85(10), 1557–1563. doi:10.1054/bjoc.2001.2146