New microRNA data could classify bladder cancer by type

7 November 2009

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Data published in Cancer Research, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research, offers new insights into the biology of urothelial carcinoma of the bladder. Specifically, microRNA profiles differ according to clinical disease phenotype, therefore, scientists may be able to use these profiles to identify gene-regulatory and biological differences between tumours.

"We identified new mechanisms of urothelial carcinogenesis. Consequently, microRNA could be used as disease biomarkers and therapeutic targets," said lead researcher Freddie C. Hamdy, MD, professor of surgery and professor of urology and head of the Nuffield Department of Surgery at the University of Oxford, United Kingdom.

Hamdy, along with Jim Catto, MD, PhD, a GlaxoSmithKline clinician-scientist and senior lecturer in urology at the University of Sheffield, United Kingdom, and their research team evaluated microRNA expression levels in urothelial carcinoma of the bladder. The aim was to better understand the disease biology. Using real-time polymerase chain reaction, these researchers examined the expression of 322 microRNAs and their processing machinery in 78 normal and malignant urothelial samples, according to the study.

Results showed differences in microRNA expression between low- and high-grade urothelial carcinoma. Compared to disease-free controls, 11 percent of microRNAs in patients with urothelial carcinoma of the bladder had altered expression levels. Phenotype-specific microRNA changes facilitated gene-regulatory events typical for these tumors, indicating their importance in disease pathogenesis, Hamdy said.

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