Differential expression of ferritin heavy chain in a rat transitional cell carcinoma progression model.

To identify molecular markers with predictive value for the progression of superficial bladder cancer we used the differential hybridization analysis approach. Since primary tumor material is heterogeneously composed of subpopulations that are poorly characterized, we used in this study a rat progression model system that phenotypically and cytogenetically resembles human superficial bladder cancer. In the differential hybridization analysis we compared the mRNA populations of low and high metastatic tumor lines. We observed an overexpression of ferritin Heavy chain (ferritin H) in the tumor line with the lower metastatic capacity and better differentiated phenotype. The exact clinical relevance for the differential expression of ferritin H in human bladder cancer remains to be determined.