Bladder Cancer: From Pathophysiology to Novel Therapeutic Approaches

A special issue of Biomedicines (ISSN 2227-9059). This special issue belongs to the section "Cancer Biology and Oncology".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 September 2023) | Viewed by 5870

Special Issue Editors

Department of Urology and Urological Oncology, Pomeranian Medical University, Al. Powstańców Wlkp. 72, 70-111 Szczecin, Poland
Interests: urologic oncology; laparoscopy; reconstructive urology; 3D printing

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Guest Editor
Department of Urology, Medical University of Łódź, Ul. Żeromskiego 113, 90-549 Łódź, Poland
Interests: urologic oncology; minimally invasive procedures; laparoscopy; methylation in bladder cancer

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Bladder cancer (BC) is the seventh most common cancer in men and tenth in the general population. Smoking, reported in half of all patients, is a well-known risk factor. Every fourth BC patient reports occupational exposure to chemical substances. Assuming an undiminished exposure to risk factors, it may also be assumed that incidence rate will remain the same.

Cancer forms that do not infiltrate the muscle layer are the most recognizable, and because of their low advancement, they offer a good prognosis. Nevertheless, they are prone to relapses, causing overload of urology departments and absence at work. They also influence patients’ lifestyle in a substantial way. About 25 percent of patients are diagnosed with advanced BC, and consequently, prognosis is much more inferior in such cases. Despite the fact that radical cystectomy is still a commonly used form of therapy, less invasive treatment methods, with a lower percentage of complications and bladder preservation, have been paving the way. Trimodal therapy/endoscopic resection and chemoradiation could be an alternative way for patients who either cannot or do not wish to undergo a mutilating cystectomy.

The introduction of biomarkers to BC diagnostics can help to identify patients at higher risk of progression or better responding to chemotherapy and thus upgrade survival rate.

We hope that this Special Issue will be an incentive to publish original research and comprehensive reviews of all aspects of BC from epidemiology and diagnostics to multidisciplinary treatment and molecular characteristics. We are open to your remarks.

Dr. Adam Golab
Dr. Zbigniew Jabłonowski
Guest Editors

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Keywords

  • bladder cancer
  • radical cystectomy
  • trimodal therapy
  • chemotherapy
  • biomarkers
  • molecular characterization

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Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

11 pages, 2166 KiB  
Article
The Role of Semaphorin 6D (Sema6D) in Non-Muscle-Invasive Bladder Cancer—A Preliminary Study on Human Plasma and Urine
by Piotr Purpurowicz, Tomasz W. Kaminski, Władysław Kordan, Anna J. Korzekwa, Zbigniew Purpurowicz and Zbigniew Jabłonowski
Biomedicines 2024, 12(7), 1426; https://doi.org/10.3390/biomedicines12071426 - 27 Jun 2024
Viewed by 1192
Abstract
The incidence of bladder cancer worldwide in the last three decades has been increasing in both men and women. So far, there is no established non-invasive bladder cancer biomarker in daily clinical practice. Semaphorin 6D (sema6D) is a transmembrane protein that belongs to [...] Read more.
The incidence of bladder cancer worldwide in the last three decades has been increasing in both men and women. So far, there is no established non-invasive bladder cancer biomarker in daily clinical practice. Semaphorin 6D (sema6D) is a transmembrane protein that belongs to the class VI semaphorins. The aim of this study was to evaluate for the first time the potential role of sema6D in bladder cancer. The study group consisted of 40 patients with non-muscle-invasive bladder cancer (NMIBC) and the control group of 20 patients without malignancies. There was a statistically significantly higher urinary sema6D concentration in patients than controls (p < 0.05) but no significant difference in plasma 6D. There were no statistically significant differences in urinary or plasma concentration of sema6D between low- or high-grade cancer and according to the tumor stage in TNM classification. There was a statistically significant negative correlation between plasma sema6D and age of patients (R = −0.6; p = 0.019). Plasma sema6D does not seem to be useful in the clinical practice at this point. However, the urinary sema6D concentration could potentially serve as a marker of NMIBC used for diagnostic purposes, monitoring, and early relapse detection or the assessment of the treatment efficacy. Urinary sema6D is probably not associated with the grading or staging of NMIBC, so it cannot be used for the prediction of disease prognosis. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Bladder Cancer: From Pathophysiology to Novel Therapeutic Approaches)
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17 pages, 4195 KiB  
Article
Ubiquitin-Specific Proteases as Potential Therapeutic Targets in Bladder Cancer—In Vitro Evaluation of Degrasyn and PR-619 Activity Using Human and Canine Models
by Łukasz Nowak, Wojciech Krajewski, Ewa Dejnaka, Bartosz Małkiewicz, Tomasz Szydełko and Aleksandra Pawlak
Biomedicines 2023, 11(3), 759; https://doi.org/10.3390/biomedicines11030759 - 2 Mar 2023
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2074
Abstract
Background: The inhibition of ubiquitin-specific proteases (USPs) is a novel and promising direction in the development of molecularly targeted therapies in oncology. The aim of the present study was to examine whether Degrasyn could be a potential therapeutic agent against bladder cancer (BC). [...] Read more.
Background: The inhibition of ubiquitin-specific proteases (USPs) is a novel and promising direction in the development of molecularly targeted therapies in oncology. The aim of the present study was to examine whether Degrasyn could be a potential therapeutic agent against bladder cancer (BC). Also, we aimed to determine whether Degrasyn is more effective in terms of anti-cancer activity compared to the non-selective DUB inhibitor PR-619. To facilitate the translational value of the obtained results, our experiments were performed using both human and canine in vitro models of BC. Methods: Human T24 (urothelial grade III BC) and SV-HUC-1 (non-tumorigenic urothelial cell line), as well as canine K9TCC-PU-NK and RDSVS-TCC1 (both derived from invasive grade III urothelial bladder tumors) cell lines, were used in the present study. Cell proliferation was determined using the MTT assay and Ki-67 proliferation assay, and the level of apoptosis induced by Degrasyn and PR-619 was evaluated by Annexin V-FITC staining and caspase 3/7 activation assay. Western blot was used to assess DNA damage and key proteins involved in apoptosis. Results: Degrasyn inhibited the proliferation of all BC cell lines in a concentration- and time-dependent manner. Lower concentrations of Degrasyn were more potent against human and canine BC cell lines compared to PR-619. Degrasyn induced caspase-dependent apoptosis and triggered DNA damage. PR-619 did not show a significant pro-apoptotic effect. Conclusions: Our results demonstrate that Degrasyn significantly impairs the growth of in vitro models of human and canine BC. Selective USP inhibition with Degrasyn seems to be more effective in reducing BC cell proliferation and inducing apoptosis and DNA damage than non-selective USP inhibition with PR-619. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Bladder Cancer: From Pathophysiology to Novel Therapeutic Approaches)
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12 pages, 1692 KiB  
Article
Development of a Sensitive Digital Droplet PCR Screening Assay for the Detection of GPR126 Non-Coding Mutations in Bladder Cancer Urine Liquid Biopsies
by Mark Jain, Alexander Tivtikyan, David Kamalov, Savva Avdonin, Tagir Rakhmatullin, Eduard Pisarev, Maria Zvereva, Larisa Samokhodskaya and Armais Kamalov
Biomedicines 2023, 11(2), 495; https://doi.org/10.3390/biomedicines11020495 - 8 Feb 2023
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1906
Abstract
Recent whole-genome sequencing studies identified two novel recurrent mutations in the enhancer region of GPR126 in urothelial bladder cancer (UBC) tumor samples. This mutational hotspot is the second most common after the TERT promoter in UBC. The aim of the study was to [...] Read more.
Recent whole-genome sequencing studies identified two novel recurrent mutations in the enhancer region of GPR126 in urothelial bladder cancer (UBC) tumor samples. This mutational hotspot is the second most common after the TERT promoter in UBC. The aim of the study was to develop a digital droplet PCR screening assay for the simultaneous detection of GPR126 mutations in a single tube. Its performance combined with TERT promoter mutation analysis was evaluated in urine of healthy volunteers (n = 50) and patients with cystitis (n = 22) and UBC (n = 70). The developed assay was validated using DNA constructs carrying the studied variants. None of the mutations were detected in control and cystitis group samples. GPR126 mutations were observed in the urine of 25/70 UBC patients (area under the ROC curve (AUC) of 0.679; mutant allele fraction (MAF) of 21.61 [8.30–44.52] %); TERT mutations–in 40/70 (AUC of 0.786; MAF = 28.29 [19.03–38.08] %); ≥1 mutation–in 47/70 (AUC of 0.836)). The simultaneous presence of GPR126 and TERT mutations was observed in 18/70 cases, with no difference in MAFs for the paired samples (31.96 [14.78–47.49] % vs. 27.13 [17.00–37.62] %, p = 0.349, respectively). The combined analysis of these common non-coding mutations in urine allows the sensitive and non-invasive detection of UBC. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Bladder Cancer: From Pathophysiology to Novel Therapeutic Approaches)
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