RESEARCH The association between X

Full list of author information is available at the end of the articleIntroduction Bladder cancer is one of the most frequently occurring neoplasms in men. The established risk factors for bladder cancer include cigarette smoking, occupational exposure to certain chemical carcinogens such as aromatic amines and uptake of drugs such as phenacetin and cyclophos-phamide. These carcinogens can cause DNA damage, introducing bulky adducts, crosslinks and single or double strand breaks [1]. Tobacco smoke and occupational expo-sures are the major risk factors in Western countries, whereas schistosoma hematobium infection is the major etiologic factor in developing countries, particularly in Africa and the Middle East [2]. Although many people are exposed to the risk factors, only a fraction of exposed indi-viduals will develop bladder cancer, suggesting an individ-ual susceptibility to the effects of carcinogens. The xeroderma pigmentosum complementation group C (XPC) protein is involved in the recognition and initi