Natalie Silliman

Springer SU, Chen C-H, Rodriguez Pena MDC, Li L, Douville C, Wang Y, Cohen JD, Taheri D, Silliman N, Schaefer J, Ptak J, Dobbyn L, Papoli M, Kinde I, Afsari B, Tregnago AC, Bezerra SM, VandenBussche C, Fujita K, Ertoy D, Cunha IW, Yu L, Bivalacqua TJ, Grollman AP, Diaz LA, Karchin R, Danilova L, Huang C-Y, Shun C-T, Turesky RJ, Yun BH, Rosenquist TA, Pu Y-S, Hruban RH, Tomasetti C, Papadopoulos N, Kinzler KW, Vogelstein B, Dickman KG, Netto GJ. 2018. Non-invasive detection of urothelial cancer through the analysis of driver gene mutations and aneuploidy. eLife 7:e32143. doi: 10.7554/eLife.32143.

Upper tract urothelial carcinomas (UTUC) of the renal pelvis or ureter can be difficult to detect and challenging to diagnose. Here, we report the development and application of a non-invasive test for UTUC based on molecular analyses of DNA recovered from cells shed into the urine. The test, called UroSEEK, incorporates assays for mutations in eleven genes frequently mutated in urologic malignancies and for allelic imbalances on 39 chromosome arms. At least one genetic abnormality was detected in 75% of urinary cell samples from 56 UTUC patients but in only 0.5% of 188 samples from healthy individuals. The assay was considerably more sensitive than urine cytology, the current standard-of-care. UroSEEK therefore has the potential to be used for screening or to aid in diagnosis in patients at increased risk for UTUC, such as those exposed to herbal remedies containing the carcinogen aristolochic acid.

Current non-invasive approaches for bladder cancer (BC) detection are suboptimal. We report the development of non-invasive molecular test for BC using DNA recovered from cells shed into urine. This “UroSEEK” test incorporates assays for mutations in 11 genes and copy number changes on 39 chromosome arms. We first evaluated 570 urine samples from patients at risk for BC (microscopic hematuria or dysuria). UroSEEK was positive in 83% of patients that developed BC, but in only 7% of patients who did not develop BC. Combined with cytology, 95% of patients that developed BC were positive. We then evaluated 322 urine samples from patients soon after their BCs had been surgically resected. UroSEEK detected abnormalities in 66% of the urine samples from these patients, sometimes up to 4 years prior to clinical evidence of residual neoplasia, while cytology was positive in only 25% of such urine samples. The advantages of UroSEEK over cytology were particularly evident in low-grade tumors, wherein cytology detected none while UroSEEK detected 67% of 49 cases. These results establish the foundation for a new, non-invasive approach to the detection of BC in patients at risk for initial or recurrent disease.