Bladder cancer: Gene-expression signature in urine indicates aggressive disease

摘要

Lourdes Mengual and colleagues have developed an accurate and noninvasive method of diagnosing and grading urothelial cell carcinoma (UCC). Their test uses microarray and quantitative reverse transcription PCR (RT-PCR) techniques to identify genes that are differentially expressed in the urine of people with and without bladder malignancy. "Our test presents a sensitivity and a specificity in the high range (89% and 95%, respectively), improving the results of currently available noninvasive UCC markers and tests. In addition, a quantitative RT-PCR test has the advantage of being objective, easy to perform, and reliable" explains Mengual.