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Abstract The Role of Uroplakin IIIA (UPIIIA) Gene and its Protein in the Diagnosis of Bladder Cancer. Background: Advanced bladder cancer is an aggressive malignancy with a poor prognosis. Despite precise pathologic staging and grading, prediction of clinical outcomes in patients is very difficult. Uroplakins are urothelial differentiation-related membrane proteins, they represent major urothelial cyto-differentiation products and are highly conserved during mammalian evolution. Objective: To evaluate the role of uroplakin IIIA as a potential diagnostic and / or prognostic predictor marker for metastasis of bladder cancer patients. Methods: A total of 106 subjects: 61 bladder cancer patients, 20 benign cases, 25 healthy subjects, were enrolled in the present study. Patients were observed for 3 years postoperative. UPIIIA mRNA level was detected in blood using q-PCR, and in urine by conventional PCR, while urinary UPIIIA protein was measured using ELISA. Results: At baseline, before cystoscopy, blood UPIIIA mRNA wassignificantly higher in the metastatic patients as compared with controls, patients with benign lesions, and nonmetastatic cancer ones (p< 0.015, 0.02, and 0.03; respectively). Urinary UPIIIA protein was significantly higher in patients who developed metastasis within the 3 years observation period from the time of surgery. Conclusion: The results suggest that UPIIIA may provide a feasible non-invasive tool for differential diagnosis and prediction of metastasis in bladder cancer. Key words: bladder cancer, UPIIIA, metastasis. |