High Expression Level of Preoperative Serum Uroplakin III is Associated with Biologically Aggressive Bladder Cancer

Abstract

Background: Uroplakins have been widely investigated as potential markers in patients with bladder cancer because these proteins are specific to the urothelium. However, the role of uroplakin proteins in bladder cancer remains unknown. In this study, preoperative serum levels of uroplakin III were measured in patients with urothelial carcinoma of the urinary bladder and examined for possible association with clinicopathological features and clinical outcomes. Materials and Methods: This study included 52 bladder cancer patients at various stages and 28 healthy controls. Uroplakin III levels were detected in preoperative sera using an automated dot blot system and a micro-dot blot array. Results: There was a significant increase in serum uroplakin III levels in patients with bladder cancer as compared to healthy controls (p<0.05). In addition, serum uroplakin III levels were associated with muscle-invasive status, high grade and lymphovascular invasion (p<0.02). Log-rank tests indicated high serum uroplakin III to be significantly associated with cancer-specific mortality. Conclusions: Determination of serum uroplakin III level could be valuable for identifying patients with biologically aggressive bladder cancer.

Uroplakin IIIa Is a Marker in Bladder Cancer but Seems Not to Reflect Chemical Carcinogenesis

“…It was the first report which showed the possible usefulness of UPIIIa as a urine marker of BC. Other data have confirmed higher UPIII (not UPIIIa) concentration in serum of patients with BC [ 7 ]. According to our knowledge no research on UPIIIa in plasma has been reported.…”

“…In this study the UPIII level was especially higher in MIBC (p≤0.001) than in NMIBC (p:0.040). Furthermore, this study emphasized that a higher serum UPIII level may be a prognostic marker with 66% specificity for MIBC and 33% for NMIBC [ 7 ]. The results of our study did not show a significant difference in isoform of uroplakin UPIIIa concentration in urine and plasma between NMIBC and MIBC patients.…”

“…This mechanism is crucial in bacterial adhesion to the host cellular membrane [ 6 ]. The destruction of urothelium causes release of proteins into blood and urine [ 7 ].…”

Comparative lipidomic study of urothelial cancer models: association with urothelial cancer cell invasiveness

“…1,2 As a special type of epithelium, the structure and function of the proteins in urothelial cells have been broadly studied also with respect to cancer transformation. [3][4][5][6][7] However, the general characterization of the lipidic component of urothelium still remains far behind, with no studies to date on the lipid hallmarks of its relevant pathological states. Our recent study revealed that the amount of cholesterol, as well as the amount of sphingomyelin/ cholesterol membrane domains is highly increased in urothelial cancer cells in comparison to normal urothelial cells.…”

<b>Protein expression profile related to cisplatin resistance in bladder cancer cell lines detected by two-dimensional gel electrophor</b><b>esis </b>

“…Agarose 2-DE can analyze much larger quantities of proteins (up to 1.5 mg) and a wider dynamic range than conventional 2-DE (14). In our previous studies, proteomic analyses were continuously investigated in urothelial carcinoma to identify the candidates for biomarkers, including proteins, sera, and autoantibodies (11,14,19,20). In this present study, we used a proteomic approach to compare the differentially regulated protein expression profiles of cisplatin-naïve and cisplatinresistant bladder cancer cell lines to screen candidate molecules related to cisplatin resistance.…”