Diagnostic value of urinary molecular markers in bladder cancer.

Objectives: In an attempt to find a more sensitive and specific non-invasive diagnostic assay for the detection of bladder cancer cells, the authors assayed the exfoliated cells from patient's voided urine and bladder washing fluids for the presence of telomerase, an enzyme that maintains a cell's chromosomal length, metalloproteinase-9 (MMP-9), which has been associated with tumor cell invasion and metastasis. Their results were compared with both voided urine cytology (VUC) and bladder wash cytology (BWC) for the detection of bladder cancer cells.

Materials And Methods: The authors used preoperative voided morning urine samples from 110 subjects for telomerase, matrix metalloproteinase-9 (MMP-9) and cytology.