Urine telomerase activity for the detection of bladder cancer in females.

Purpose: Previous studies have shown that telomerase activity in bladder washings and voided urine represents an important noninvasive tool for bladder cancer diagnosis. With the present case-control study conducted on 212 women, including 144 healthy individuals and 68 patients, at first diagnosis of bladder cancer we confirmed previously obtained diagnostic results and improved the accuracy of this diagnostic assay.

Materials And Methods: Telomerase activity was evaluated by quantitative telomeric repeat amplification protocol assay and expressed as arbitrary enzymatic units.

Relevance of urine telomerase in the diagnosis of bladder cancer.

Context: The identification of new molecular markers is one of the most challenging goals for the early detection of bladder cancer because available noninvasive methods have neither sufficient sensitivity nor specificity to be acceptable for routine use.

Objective: To develop a relatively simple, inexpensive, and accurate test that measures telomerase activity in voided urine to apply to large-scale screening programs for bladder cancer detection.

Design, Setting, And Participants: Case-control study conducted in 218 men (84 healthy individuals and 134 patients at first diagnosis of histologically confirmed bladder cancer), frequency matched by age and recruited between March 2003 and November 2004 in Italy.

Urine telomerase: an important marker in the diagnosis of bladder cancer.

Telomerase activity is present in most human malignant tumors, whereas it is generally not detectable, with some exceptions, in normal cells. Therefore, it represents a potential tool for tumor detection. In the present study, telomerase activity was determined in urine from 79 healthy individuals and 121 previously untreated bladder cancer patients using a highly sensitive telomeric repeat amplification protocol (TRAP) assay and the results were expressed as arbitrary enzymatic units (AEU).