Evaluation of the improved tubeless cutaneous ureterostomy technique following radical cystectomy in cases of invasive bladder cancer complicated by peritoneal metastasis.

Radical cystectomy, as the most common surgical treatment for patients with invasive bladder cancer (IBC) complicated by peritoneal metastasis, is usually accompanied by a urinary diversion procedure. In this study, we evaluated the improved tubeless cutaneous ureterostomy technique by comparing the resulting clinical effects with either a traditional ureterostomy and an ileal conduit urinary diversion. Clinical data from 85 patients who underwent 1 of the 3 procedures between April 2012 and April 2015 were analyzed retrospectively. In total, 30 patients underwent improved tubeless cutaneous ureterostomy, 28 patients underwent a traditional cutaneous ureterostomy and 27 underwent an ileal conduit urinary diversion following radical cystectomy. The incidence of complications, including stoma infection, nipple atrophy, terminal necrosis, urine leakage, external orifice stenosis, uronephrosis and ureterectasia in the group of patients treated with the improved tubeless ureterostomy technique was significantly lower than that of the patients in the other 2 groups, and the difference was statistically significant (P<0.05). In addition, the duration of the surgery, intra-operative bleeding, the duration of the hospitalization period and the time to extubation in the patients treated with the improved tubeless ureterostomy technique were significantly decreased (P<0.05) compared with the patients in the other 2 groups. Finally, the health-related quality of life of the patients treated with the improved tubeless ureterostomy technique was significantly higher (P<0.05) than that of the patients in the other 2 groups. The findings of our study demonstrated that the use of the improved tubeless cutaneous ureterostomy technique following radical cystectomy in patients with IBC complicated by peritoneal metastasis resulted in improved clinical effects. Thus, improved tubeless cutaneous ureterostomy may be a promising alternative for enhancing the quality of life of patients with IBC.

MicroRNA-137 upregulation increases bladder cancer cell proliferation and invasion by targeting PAQR3.

There is increasing evidence suggesting that dysregulation of some microRNAs (miRNAs) may contribute to tumor progression and metastasis and have been proposed to be key regulators of diverse biological processes such as transcriptional regulation, cell growth and tumorigenesis. Previous studies have shown that miR-137 is dysregulated in some malignancies, but its role in bladder cancer is still unknown. In our study, we find that miR-137 is up-regulated in human bladder cancer tissues and cell lines. Moreover, the higher level of miR-137 was associated with pM or pTNM stage in clinical bladder cancer patients. Enforced expression of miR-137 in bladder cancer cells significantly enhanced their proliferation, migration and invasion. Bioinformatics analysis identified the tumor suppressor gene PAQR3 as a potential miR-137 target gene. Further studies indicated that miR-137 suppressed the expression of PAQR3 by binding to its 3'-untranslated region. Silencing of PAQR3 by small interfering RNAs phenocopied the effects of miR-137 overexpression, whereas restoration of PAQR3 in bladder cancer cells bladder cancer cells overexpressing miR-137, partially reversed the suppressive effects of miR-137. These findings indicate that miR-137 could be a potential oncogene in bladder cancer.