Bisphenol A exposure promotes proliferation and invasion capabilities of bladder cancer cells: Insights from gene expression and pathway analysis

Bisphenol A (BPA), a synthetic organic compound widely used in plastic products, toys, water pipes, and flame retardants, has been linked to the onset and progression of various cancers. This study explores the association between BPA and bladder cancer using bioinformatics approaches. We applied the ssGSEA algorithm to calculate BPA-related scores in TCGA-BLCA cohort and classify patients based on this. GO and KEGG pathway enrichment analyses identified key pathways associated with BPA-related genes. Prognostic genes were screened through differential expression, Cox regression, and Lasso regression, leading to the construction of a prognostic model. Pathway enrichment suggested that BPA exposure promotes bladder cancer progression by modulating the Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition pathway. In vitro experiments demonstrated that exposure to 10⁻⁷ μM BPA significantly enhanced the proliferation and invasion of bladder cancer cells, with Western blot confirming that BPA induces the EMT phenotype in a dose-dependent manner. These findings suggest the involvement of the BPA-mediated regulatory network in bladder cancer progression, thereby providing novel insights into the molecular mechanisms underlying BPA-induced bladder cancer development upon environmental exposure.