Combined use of epithelial membrane antigen and nuclear matrix protein 52 as sensitive biomarkers for detection of bladder cancer.

BACKGROUND: The advent of noninvasive urine-based markers as well as other novel modalities has yielded improved diagnostic accuracy. However, the new markers failed to reach higher sensitivity and specificity. We therefore evaluated the potential role of epithelial membrane antigen (EMA) and nuclear matrix protein 52 (NMP-52) singly and combined as noninvasive biomarkers for the detection of bladder cancer (BC). METHODS: A total of 160 individuals including 66 patients with BC, 54 patients with benign urologic disorders and 40 healthy volunteers were investigated. Urinary EMA at 130 kDa and NMP at 52 kDa were identified, purified and quantified by Western blot, electroelution and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). The diagnostic performance of each biomarker and their combination were compared using area under receiver operating characteristic curves (AUC). RESULTS: Mean urinary EMA, 2.42 µg/mL, and NMP-52, 17.85 µg/mL, were significantly elevated in patients with BC compared to controls, 1.18 and 3.44 µg/mL, respectively (p<0.0001). The combined use of these markers yielded values which were increased 4.4- and 13.7-fold in the benign and malignant disease groups, respectively, with respect to the normal group. The values of EMA and NMP-52 were significantly higher in patients with higher-grade tumors than those with lower-grade tumors (p<0.0001). Moreover, this combination could predict all BC stages and grades with 0.91 AUC, 94% sensitivity and 80% specificity. CONCLUSIONS: EMA and NMP-52 in combination could be promising noninvasive biomarkers for BC detection.

[Change in vascular endothelial growth factor level in serum and urine of esophageal carcinoma patients].

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to determine the serum and urine vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) level in patients with esophageal carcinoma and to elucidate their significance of pre-operative VEGF levels. METHODS: Urine VEGF level was measured by sandwich ELISA in 82 esophageal carcinoma patients and 15 healthy individuals. RESULTS: The serum and urine VEGF levels (mean +/- s, ng/L) in esophageal carcinoma patients were 92.81 +/- 5.86 and 277.92 +/- 22.71 which were significantly higher than those of healthy subjects (16.01 +/- 3.46 and 15.27 +/- 4.22, P < 0.01). The pre-operatiive urine VEGF level in esophageal cancer patients were significantly higher in advanced stage of the disease (P < 0.01). As to the depth of invasion (T-factor), the urine VEGF level of T4 invasive lesions were significantly higher than those with T1-T3 invasion (P < 0.01). The same was also true in esophageal carcinoma having lymph node metastasis than that without (P < 0.05). The urine VEGF level was significantly higher than the serum VEGF level (P < 0.01). CONCLUSION: VEGF plays an important role in the growth and metastasis of esophageal cancer.

Psoriasin (S100A7): a putative urinary marker for the follow-up of patients with bladder squamous cell carcinomas.

To search for bladder squamous cell carcinoma markers that are released to the urine a blind and systematic analysis of the protein profiles of fresh tumors, their secreted proteins, as well as the patient's urine was carried out using state-of-the-art proteomic technology. We review the data concerning the putative marker psoriasin (S100A7), which, alone or in combination with other biomarkers, may be valuable for the noninvasive follow-up of patients bearing these tumors.