Our data revealed that 59.4% of the bladder cancer specimens showed Aurora-A overexpression, of which 31.8% also had Ha-ras codon-12 mutation; 45.5% were from blackfoot-disease endemic areas in which arsenic exposure is a major environment factor associated with various cancer formation. We further demonstrated that arsenic treatment of the immortalized bladder cell line, E7, increased Aurora-A expression. All together, co-existence of Aurora-A overexpression and Ha-ras mutation suggests a possible additively effect on the tumorigenesis of bladder cancer. In addition, Aurora-A overexpression and up-regulated by arsenic exposure opens a new direction for exploring the occurrence of bladder cancer occurrence in Taiwan. (c) 2005 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.
