Clinical Significance of Serological and Urological Levels of Bladder Cancer-Specific Antigen-1 (BLCA-1) in Bladder Cancer

Liquid biopsy in urothelial carcinoma: Detection techniques and clinical applications

The types of urothelial carcinoma (UC) include urothelial bladder cancer and upper tract urothelial carcinoma. Current diagnostic techniques cannot meet the needs of patients. Liquid biopsy is an accurate method of determining the molecular profile of UC and is a cutting-edge and popular technique that is expected to complement existing detection techniques and benefit patients with UC. Circulating tumor cells, cell-free DNA, cell-free RNA, extracellular vesicles, proteins, and metabolites can be found in the blood, urine, or other bodily fluids and are examined during liquid biopsies. This article focuses on the components of liquid biopsies and their clinical applications in UC. Liquid biopsies have tremendous potential in multiple aspects of precision oncology, from early diagnosis and treatment monitoring to predicting prognoses. They may therefore play an important role in the management of UC and precision medicine.

Plasma aromatase as a sensitive and selective potential biomarker of bladder cancer and its role in tumorigenesis

Bladder cancer (BCa) is the ninth most common cancer in the world and its early detection is crucial for successful therapy. Unfortunately, there are no satisfactory tools to detect BCa at early stages and BCa's confirmation muscle-invasive. The search for a suitable biomarker is therefore necessary and aromatase is a potential candidate. The purpose of the current study was to determine if aromatase serves as a biomarker of BCa. A Surface Plasmon Resonance Imaging biosensor was applied for the quantification and determination of aromatase. A total of 3 µl blood plasma was used for a single measurement. The results revealed that the aromatase concentration in the plasma of patients with BCa (n=78) ranged from 17.41-57.44 ng/ml. The range determined in healthy donors (n=18) was 2.59-7.74 ng/ml. Additionally, it was revealed that muscle invasive BCa samples exhibited elevated, statistically significant (P=0.01) average aromatase concentrations in blood plasma (38.64 ng/ml) when compared with non-muscle invasive samples (29.83 ng/ml). The results demonstrated that plasma aromatase may serve as an excellent bimarker of BCa with 100% sensitivity, 100% selectivity and an area under the curve value of the reciever operating characteristic curve equal to 1.0. Furthermore, the marker differenciated between muscle-invasive and non muscle-invasive BCa with a sensitivity of 60% and a specificity of 81%. In conclusion, aromatase may serve a role in bladder tumorigenesis.