title: Clinical correlation between serum YKL-40 protein level and recurrence of non-muscle invasive bladder cancer.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  To explore the clinical correlation between serum YKL-40 protein level and recurrence of non-muscle invasive bladder cancer (NMIBC).
  
  
  METHODS
  Totally 76 NMIBC patients (including 34 patients with confirmed recurrence and 42 patients without recurrence during the 2-year post-operative follow-up) and 31 healthy volunteers were recruited in this study. Blood samples were collected early in the morning, and serum YKL-40 protein levels of all these patients were analysed by using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA).
  
  
  RESULTS
  Serum YKL-40 protein levels were significantly higher in NMIBC patients than in healthy controls (P<0.001). Meanwhile, serum YKL-40 protein levels were found to be significantly higher in patients with recurrent NMIBC than those without tumor recurrence (P=0.001).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Serum YKL-40 protein can be a reliable molecular marker for the clinical diagnosis of NMIBC recurrence. In particular, it can inform the post-operative management.
authors.affiliation: Department of Urology, Shanghai 10th People's Hospital, Tongji University, Shanghai 200072, China.
authors.forename: Jiasheng
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Yan
authors.affiliation: Department of Urology, Shanghai 10th People's Hospital, Tongji University, Shanghai 200072, China.
authors.forename: Peijun
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Shen
authors.affiliation: Department of Urology, Shanghai 10th People's Hospital, Tongji University, Shanghai 200072, China.
authors.forename: Junhua
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zheng
authors.affiliation: Department of Urology, Shanghai 10th People's Hospital, Tongji University, Shanghai 200072, China.
authors.forename: Min
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Liu
keywords: YKL-40; non-muscle invasive bladder cancer (NMIBC); recurrence; serum