Unravelling bladder cancer in Uganda: insights from the discrepancies in TP53 assessment between immunohistochemistry and whole exome sequencing

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Bladder cancer (urothelial carcinoma) is highly heterogeneous. Despite several cutting-edge treatment practices, the prognosis of muscle-invasive urothelial carcinoma (MIUC) remains very poor. Immunohistochemistry (IHC) and whole exome sequencing (WES) have been used to understand the heterogeneous nature of this aggressive cancer. Unfortunately, _TP53_, the guardian of the genome, is the most mutated gene in MIUC. Overexpression of its gene products is a predictor of poor prognosis in urothelial carcinoma. This study assessed _TP53_ gene mutations and their protein expression using IHC and WES techniques.