The Expression Level of Human Thymidine Phosphorylase in Urinary Tract Cancer

Human thymidine phosphorylase (dThdPase) catalyses reversible phosphorylation of thymidine to deoxyribose-1- phosphate and thymine, and is identical to Platelet-derived endothelial cell growth factor (PD-ECGF), which is an angiogenic factor purified from human platelet. In this study, we determined dThdPase expression levels in urinary tract cancer by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and determined whether they correlated with tumor stage and grade in bladder cancer. The mean level of dThdPase expression in cancer tissue was higher than in normal tissue in bladder cancer (41.1ﾂｱ50.7 unit/mg protein vs 17.6ﾂｱ17.8 unit/ mg protein) and in upper urinary tract cancer (52.4 ﾂｱ 53.1 unit/mg protein vs 17.6 ﾂｱ 17.8 unit/mg protein). dThdPase expression level was correlated with tumor grade and stage in bladder cancer. These data suggest that dThdPase/PDECGF is an important angiogenic factor for growth and extension of urinary tract cancer