Preliminary Evaluation of the Diagnostic Usefulness of Uroplakin 2 with an Assessment of the Antioxidant Potential of Patients with Bladder Cancer

Initial Evaluation of Uroplakins UPIIIa and UPII in Selected Benign Urological Diseases

BACKGROUND

Uroplakins (UPs) are glycoproteins that play a specific role in the structure and function of the urothelium. Disorders which affect the normal expression of UPs are associated with the pathogenesis of infections and neoplasms of the urinary tract, primary vesicoureteral reflux, hydronephrosis and renal dysfunction. The appearance of uroplakins in the urine and/or plasma may be of potential importance in the detection of urinary tract dysfunction. The aim of the present study was to investigate uroplakin IIIa (UPIIIa) and uroplakin II (UPII) expression in patients with selected urological diseases.

METHODS

Plasma and urine from patients with benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH), urethral stricture (US), urinary tract infection (UTI) and urolithiasis were compared to healthy people without urological disorders. UPs concentrations were measured by the immunoenzymatic method.

RESULTS

In patients with BPH and UTI, concentrations of UPIIIa in urine and plasma, as well as UPII in urine, were statistically significantly higher than in the control groups. In the US group, only the plasma UPIIIa concentration differed significantly from the control.

CONCLUSION

The conducted research shows that benign urological diseases may affect the state of the urothelium, as manifested by increased concentrations of both UPs in patients' urine and plasma, especially in BPH and UTI.

Potential of the cell-free blood-based biomarker uroplakin 2 RNA to detect recurrence after surgical resection of lung adenocarcinoma

Lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD) is the most common subtype of lung cancer, and ~30% of patients with LUAD develop cancer recurrence after surgery. The present study aimed to identify and validate biomarkers that may be used to monitor recurrence following LUAD surgery. Data from patients with LUAD were downloaded from The Cancer Genome Atlas database and postoperative recurrence samples were selected. Subsequently, weighted gene co-expression network analysis (WGCNA) was subsequently performed to identify key co-expression gene modules. Additionally, enrichment analysis of the key gene modules was performed using the Database for Annotation, Visualization and Integrated Discovery. Furthermore, survival analysis was performed on the most notable biomarker, uroplakin 2 (UPK2), which was downloaded from the Oncomine database, and its effect on prognosis was assessed. WGCNA identified 39 gene modules, of which one was most associated with recurrence. Among them, UPK2, kelch domain containing 3, galanin receptor 2 and tyrosinase-related protein 1 served a central role in the co-expression network and were significantly associated with the survival of patients. A total of 132 blood samples were collected from patients with LUAD with free UPK2 in the plasma. The expression levels of UPK2 relative to GADPH were 0.1623 and 0.2763 in non-relapsed and relapsed patients, respectively. Receiver operating characteristic curve analysis was used to detect free UPK2 mRNA in the blood in order to monitor postoperative recurrence, resulting in an area under the curve of 0.767 and a 95% CI of 0.675-0.858. Patients with high free UPK2 mRNA expression had unfavorable survival outcomes compared with those with low UPK2 expression. Therefore, free UPK2 mRNA expression in the plasma may have the potential to act as an indicator of postoperative recurrence in patients with early stage LUAD.

Development of an Immune-Related Risk Signature in Patients with Bladder Urothelial Carcinoma

With recent advances in immunooncology and tumor microenvironment, the treatment landscape of bladder urothelial carcinoma has been changing dramatically. We aim to construct an immune gene-related signature which can predict BLCA patients' overall survival. Transcriptomic data of BLCA patients was downloaded from The Cancer Genome Atlas database, and immune-related genes were downloaded from the Immunology Database and Analysis Portal database. Prognostic immune-related genes were identified. We then constructed and validated an immune gene-related signature. Tumor-related transcription factors were downloaded from the Cistrome database, and a network between them and prognostic immune-related genes was generated. Cox's proportional hazards model and the Kaplan–Meier survival analysis were performed to assess our signature's prognostic ability. Relationship between the signature and patients' clinicopathologic features was then explored to validate its clinical value. We further downloaded concentration of six types of immune cells from the Tumor Immune Estimation Resource database to explore immune-related potential mechanisms of the signature.

A radiogenomics signature for predicting the clinical outcome of bladder urothelial carcinoma

OBJECTIVES

To determine the integrative value of contrast-enhanced computed tomography (CECT), transcriptomics data and clinicopathological data for predicting the survival of bladder urothelial carcinoma (BLCA) patients.

METHODS

RNA sequencing data, radiomics features and clinical parameters of 62 BLCA patients were included in the study. Then, prognostic signatures based on radiomics features and gene expression profile were constructed by using least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) Cox analysis. A multi-omics nomogram was developed by integrating radiomics, transcriptomics and clinicopathological data. More importantly, radiomics risk score-related genes were identified via weighted correlation network analysis and submitted to functional enrichment analysis.

RESULTS

The radiomics and transcriptomics signatures significantly stratified BLCA patients into high- and low-risk groups in terms of the progression-free interval (PFI). The two risk models remained independent prognostic factors in multivariate analyses after adjusting for clinical parameters. A nomogram was developed and showed an excellent predictive ability for the PFI in BLCA patients. Functional enrichment analysis suggested that the radiomics signature we developed could reflect the angiogenesis status of BLCA patients.

CONCLUSIONS

The integrative nomogram incorporated CECT radiomics, transcriptomics and clinical features improved the PFI prediction in BLCA patients and is a feasible and practical reference for oncological precision medicine.

KEY POINTS

• Our radiomics and transcriptomics models are proved robust for survival prediction in bladder urothelial carcinoma patients. • A multi-omics nomogram model which integrates radiomics, transcriptomics and clinical features for prediction of progression-free interval in bladder urothelial carcinoma is established. • Molecular functional enrichment analysis is used to reveal the potential molecular function of radiomics signature.

Approaches and Methods to Measure Oxidative Stress in Clinical Samples: Research Applications in the Cancer Field

Reactive oxygen species (ROS) are common by-products of normal aerobic cellular metabolism and play important physiological roles in intracellular cell signaling and homeostasis. The human body is equipped with antioxidant systems to regulate the levels of these free radicals and maintain proper physiological function. However, a condition known as oxidative stress (OS) occurs, when ROS overwhelm the body's ability to readily detoxify them. Excessive amounts of free radicals generated under OS conditions cause oxidative damage to proteins, lipids, and nucleic acids, severely compromising cell health and contributing to disease development, including cancer. Biomarkers of OS can therefore be exploited as important tools in the assessment of disease status in humans. In the present review, we discuss different approaches used for the evaluation of OS in clinical samples. The described methods are limited in their ability to reflect on OS only partially, revealing the need of more integrative approaches examining both pro- and antioxidant reactions with higher sensitivity to physiological/pathological alternations. We also provide an overview of recent findings of OS in patients with different types of cancer. Identification of OS biomarkers in clinical samples of cancer patients and defining their roles in carcinogenesis hold great promise in promoting the development of targeted therapeutic approaches and diagnostic strategies assessing disease status. However, considerable data variability across laboratories makes it difficult to draw general conclusions on the significance of these OS biomarkers. To our knowledge, no adequate comparison has yet been performed between different biomarkers and the methodologies used to measure them, making it difficult to conduct a meta-analysis of findings from different groups. A critical evaluation and adaptation of proposed methodologies available in the literature should therefore be undertaken, to enable the investigators to choose the most suitable procedure for each chosen biomarker.