Biomarkers for prognosis and treatment selection in advanced bladder cancer patients

Authors:
Publisher website
Google Scholar
Abstract
Purpose of review Patients with locally ‘advanced’ or muscle invasive bladder cancer have higher mortality rates than patients with nonmuscle invasive (‘superficial’) bladder cancer. Biomarkers can stratify clinical outcomes and thus promise to more accurately prognosticate and thus help assign patients to the appropriate treatments. The aim of this review is to summarize biomarker developments in the past year and to discuss their implications in prognosis and treatment selection in locally advanced bladder cancer. Recent findings Prognostic biomarkers for bladder cancer are identified at the DNA, RNA and/or protein levels. Some are new markers, whereas others are established markers with new roles in bladder cancer. Markers can report on the risk of disease recurrence or metastasis, or treatment responsiveness and thus are useful in determining ‘who to treat’ and ‘what to treat with’. Summary The list of biomarkers for prognosis and treatment selection for advanced bladder cancer is growing. For most, their clinical relevance is unclear due to their lack of validation in external datasets. MicroRNAs and new techniques including next-generation sequencing offer additional opportunities for biomarker discovery, validation, and clinical applications.

This publication has 59 references indexed in Scilit: