Cathepsin-D and TNF-alpha in bladder cancer.

In a study of 34 normal healthy controls, 35 patients with urinary tract bilharziasis and 93 bladder cancer patients (62 of them are operable cases and 31 are non-operable ones), serum tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-alpha) and cytosolic Cathepsin-D were estimated. Though both potential markers were elevated in bladder cancer patients, neither Cathepsin-D nor TNF-alpha showed associations of prognostic value since there were no positive correlations with tumor stages, grades or association of tumors with bilharzial ova or lymph node involvement.