title: Apoptosis in gallbladder carcinomas and dysplasias, its relation to the expression of caspases 3, 6 and 8 and apoptosis regulating proteins bcl-2, mcl-1 and bax.
abstract: In this study we investigated apoptosis and the expression of caspases 3, 6 and 8 and bcl-2, mcl-1 and bax in 39 gallbladder carcinomas and 7 epithelial dysplasias. The average apoptotic index was 0.68 +/- 0.91%. The extent of apoptosis was higher in grade II-III than grade I tumours or epithelial dysplasias (p = 0.003). Also, tumours invading beyond serosa or into other organs (T3-T4) had a higher apoptotic index than other tumours (p = 0.05). Caspase 3 expression was found in 37 (95%) and caspase 6 and 8 expression each in 30 (77%) carcinomas. Their expression associated with each other and tended to increase along with the progression of the lesions. Bcl-2 expression was found in only 4 (10%) tumours. In contrast, mcl-1 positivity was found in 34 (87%) and bax positivity in all cases. The results show that apoptosis is increased along with progression of the neoplastic lesions of the gallbladder epithelium. Caspases 3, 6 and 8 are strongly expressed in gallbladder carcinomas suggesting that they contribute to the increased apoptosis observed in them. Of the bcl-2 family proteins, bcl-2 was expressed infrequently suggesting that it does not play any significant role in apoptosis inhibition in gallbladder tumours.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, University of Oulu, Finland.
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Turunen
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Pääkkö
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Soini
mesh_terms: D053148:Caspase 3; D053178:Caspase 6; D053181:Caspase 8; D053453:Caspase 9; D020169:Caspases / Q000032:analysis*; D005704:Gallbladder / Q000201:enzymology / Q000473:pathology*; D005706:Gallbladder Neoplasms / Q000201:enzymology* / Q000473:pathology*; D006801:Humans; D064549:Myeloid Cell Leukemia Sequence 1 Protein; D009336:Necrosis; D009361:Neoplasm Invasiveness; D009363:Neoplasm Proteins / Q000032:analysis*; D011518:Proto-Oncogene Proteins / Q000032:analysis*; D019253:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-bcl-2 / Q000032:analysis*; D051028:bcl-2-Associated X Protein
chemical_list: C494826:BAX protein, human; D064549:Myeloid Cell Leukemia Sequence 1 Protein; D009363:Neoplasm Proteins; D011518:Proto-Oncogene Proteins; D019253:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-bcl-2; D051028:bcl-2-Associated X Protein; C505407:CASP3 protein, human; C505514:CASP6 protein, human; C505530:CASP8 protein, human; C506433:CASP9 protein, human; D053148:Caspase 3; D053178:Caspase 6; D053181:Caspase 8; D053453:Caspase 9; D020169:Caspases