Purpose of review: To understand the molecular mechanisms of bladder carcinogenesis in relation to environmental carcinogens in order to provide a given population with a preventive value of bladder cancer.
Recent findings: Cigarette smoking, aromatic amines contained in dyes, chronic inflammation due to infection such as schistosomiasis, anticancer drugs, drug abuse of analgesic, and radiation are considered as well known risk factors of bladder cancer. Several environmental factors are supposed to be involved in carcinogenesis, cancer progression, and patient's prognosis in bladder cancer. On the basis of the results of recent genetic studies in relation to bladder carcinogenesis, several genetic polymorphisms of detoxification or DNA repair such as N-acetyltransferase 2, glutathione S-transferases, and human 8-oxoguanine DNA glycosylase 1 give us important information in relation to environmental risk factors and ethnic differences for predicting the prognosis of patients with bladder cancer.
Summary: Prevention of environmental carcinogens is important from the viewpoint of the social and clinical problems since elucidation of the correlation between epidemiologic and genetic phenomenon enable us to improve the life expectancy and quality of life of bladder cancer patients.