Bladder cancer occurs in about 63,000 Americans per year and kills about 12,000. Some bladder cancers are highly aggressive whereas others are indolent but tend to recur.

What makes a cancer aggressive or indolent is not entirely clear. Our work has shown that the extracellular matrix (ECM) plays a major role in aggressiveness. This research may help identify markers for cancer progression as well as new targets for therapy.

CELLS GROWN ON MATRIGEL TYPIFY THE
MALIGNANT PHENOTYPE AND ARE SHOWN
ON THE LEFT

CELLS GROWN ON SISGEL EXHIBIT A NEAR
NORMAL PHENOTYPE ON THE RIGHT

Hematoxylin and eosin labeled transverse sections of 3-dimensional cultures.

A, B: TCCSUP, a highly undifferentiated line. The arrow indicates one of the connecting processes.

C, D: J82 line, also a highly undifferentiated line.

E, F: 253JB-V line, a metastatic phenotype derived from the 253JP line.

G, H: 253 JP line, a low-grade tumor line:
I, J: RT4, a papilloma line.


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© 2005 Dr. Robert E. Hurst - All rights reserved