Response to epirubicin in patients with superficial bladder cancer and expression of the topoisomerase II alpha and beta genes

Abstract

Biopsies of superficial bladder cancer were analysed to study the relationship between response to epirubicin and the expression of the human topoisomerase II alpha and beta genes. Tissue samples were obtained prior to treatment and a marker tumour was left in the bladder. Transcript levels of both genes were generally lower in biopsies taken following treatment failure. Levels of topoisomerase II mRNA were uniformly lower in tumour tissue than in biopsies of normal tissue.