Definition: Malignant epithelial tumors of the bladder.
Bladder cancer ranks fifth in cancer incidence in the Western Hemisphere and is a leading cause of death from genitourinary cancer, with 145,000 deaths annually worldwide (mostly vesical carcinomas).
Types (Examples)
vesical transitional cell carcinoma
vesical squamous cell carcinoma
Bladder tumors constitute a very heterogeneous disease. Superficial tumors are characterized by a high prevalence of FGFR3 mutations and chromosome 9 alterations. High-grade and muscle-invasive tumors are characterized by Tp53 mutations and aneuploidy.
PIK3CA mutations
- PIK3CA mutations are an early genetic alteration associated with FGFR3 mutations in superficial papillary bladder tumors. (16885334)
References
Haynes MD, Martin TA, Jenkins SA, Kynaston HG, Matthews PN, Jiang WG. Tight junctions and bladder cancer. Int J Mol Med. 2005 Jul;16(1):3-9. PMID: 15942671