Although bladder cancers are very common, little is known about their molecular pathogenesis. It is known that p53 alteration is found in about 60% of muscle-invasive bladder cancer, necessiating aggressive therapy and poor outcome. We examined the nuclear expression of p53 protein, using D07 monoclonal antibody in the urine samples from 31 patients with transitional cell carcinoma of the bladder to investigate the correlation of p53 overexpression with histologic grades and depth of invasion. The positive rate of p53 protein was 27% in superficial bladder tumor, but increased up to 71% in the invasive bladder carcinomas. The overexpression of p53 protein increased according to Mostofi grading system from 18% in grade I, 45% in grade II, and up to 100% in grade III. The p53 expression tended to be higher in the invasive and high grade bladder cancers than in the superficial and low grade ones(p<0.05). These results suggest that immunohistochemical analysis of the urine specimen in the bladder cancer patients could be a useful method of screening for the presence of p53 mutant protein. The mutant p53 protein expression may be an indicator of bladder cancer with more proliferative potential and/or aggressive biologic behavior.