quantitative assessment of collagen in non schistosomal and schistosoma associated urinary bladder carcinoma

ABSTRACT

Forty urinary bladder samples were obtained for study, they included 4 benign bilharzial cystitis cases and 36 urinary bladder carcinomas [14 associated with schistosomiasis and 22 without evidence of schistosomal infestation]. The cases were subjected to a quantitative assessment of their collagen content by two methods: Colorimetric micromethod for collagen quantitation and morphometric analysis of collagen by use of an image analyzer. The results obtained by both methods pointed out that benign bilharzial cystitis cases contained more total collagen than the malignant cases and the malignant bilharzial cases were more fibrogenic than the non-bilharzial. Differences between the various histological subtypes were also seen with squamous cell carcinoma displaying more desmoplasia than adenocarcinoma and transitional cell carcinoma. Transitional cell carcinoma associated with bilharziasis was close in collagen content to squamous cell carcinoma without bilharziasis. It was apparent from these results that the total amount of collagen in addition to the distribution pattern of the fibrotic process in schistosomal cases around the newly formed blood vessels and lymphatics both play a role in determination of the unique behavior of such neoplasms