Is aneusomy of chromosome 9 alone a valid biomarker for urinary bladder cancer screening?
BACKGROUND
Detection of genetically-changed tumor cells in the urine is one of the new approaches for the screening of bladder carcinomas. In a previous study, numerical aberrations of chromosome 9 were found in 85.18% of bladder tumors studied by the fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) technique. The purpose of the present study was to investigate whether chromosome 9 aneusomy alone is a valid, cost effective, biomarker for bladder cancer screening.


METHODS
Twenty-seven voided urine specimens obtained from 22 bladder cancer patients, either at initial diagnosis or at the follow-up, were analyzed by the FISH technique with the centromeric probe specific for chromosome 9.


RESULTS
In all except 2 out of the 13 specimens with a histological confirmation of cancer, FISH analysis showed aneusomy 9 (sensitivity 84.61%). Among 6 cases with a negative cystoscopy but a positive FISH analysis, 3 recurred within the following 2 months, while 2 no-recurrent patients continued to show positive FISH findings after 6 months. One patient was considered to be false-positive. Four cases with a negative cystoscopy showed disomy 9 and 2 of them recurred.


CONCLUSIONS
Aneusomy 9 has a high sensitivity (84.61%) for the detection of bladder cancer. Patients with a negative cystoscopy but with aneusomy 9 should be kept under close clinical surveillance for potential disease recurrence. However, negative FISH results might not be a negative predictor for disease recurrence. Our results encourage further studies with a large number of patients and a long-term follow-up with concurrent FISH analysis.
Panani
Anna D
AD
Critical Care Department, Medical School of Athens University, Research Unit, "Evangelismos" Hospital, Athens 10676, Greece. apanani@med.uoa.gr
Kozirakis
Diomidis
D
Anastasiou
John
J
Babanaraki
Athanasia
A
Malovrouvas
Dimitrios
D
Roussos
Charis
C
D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002869:Chromosome Aberrations; D002899:Chromosomes, Human, Pair 9 / Q000235:genetics*; D003362:Cost-Benefit Analysis; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D017404:In Situ Hybridization, Fluorescence / Q000191:economics / Q000379:methods; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D001749:Urinary Bladder Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000235:genetics* / Q000473:pathology / Q000652:urine