According to data of the International Agency for Research on Cancer and the World Health Organization (Cancer Incidence in Five Continents, GLOBOCAN, and the World Health Organization Mortality), bladder is among the top ten body locations of cancer globally, with the highest incidence rates reported in Southern and Western Europe, North America, Northern Africa and Western Asia. Males (M) are more vulnerable to this disease than females (F), despite ample frequency variations in different countries, with a M:F ratio of 4.1:1 for incidence and 3.6:1 for mortality, worldwide. For a long time, bladder cancer was genetically classified through mutations of two genes, fibroblast growth factor receptor 3 (FGFR3, for low-grade, non-invasive papillary tumors) and tumor protein P53 (TP53, for high-grade, muscle-invasive tumors). However, more recently scientists have shown that this disease is far more complex, since genes directly involved are more than 150; so far, it has been described that altered gene expression (up- or down-regulation) may be present for up to 500 coding sequences in low-grade and up to 2300 in high-grade tumors. Non-coding RNAs are essential to explain, at least partially, this ample dysregulation. In this review, we summarize the present knowledge about long and short non-coding RNAs that have been linked to bladder cancer etiology.
Genes. 2017 Nov 22*** epublish ***
Caterina Gulìa, Stefano Baldassarra, Fabrizio Signore, Giuliano Rigon, Valerio Pizzuti, Marco Gaffi, Vito Briganti, Alessandro Porrello, Roberto Piergentili
Department of Gynecology, Obstetrics and Urology, Policlinico Umberto I, Sapienza University of Rome, 00161 Rome, Italy. ., Department of Gynecology, Obstetrics and Urology, Policlinico Umberto I, Sapienza University of Rome, 00161 Rome, Italy. ., Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Misericordia Hospital, 58100 Grosseto, Italy. ., Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Azienda Ospedaliera San Camillo-Forlanini, 00152 Rome, Italy. ., Department of Urology, Misericordia Hospital, 58100 Grosseto, Italy. ., Pediatric Surgery and Urology Unit, Azienda Ospedaliera San Camillo-Forlanini, 00152 Rome, Italy. ., Pediatric Surgery and Urology Unit, Azienda Ospedaliera San Camillo-Forlanini, 00152 Rome, Italy. ., Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, USA. ., Institute of Molecular Biology and Pathology, Italian National Research Council (CNR-IBPM), 00185 Rome, Italy. .