Gene Signatures Predicting Recurrence and Progression of Bladder Cancer - Expert Commentary

With the increased accessibility of sequencing data from cancer tissue samples, it has become easier for researchers to perform large-scale studies on cellular and molecular signatures of different types and stages of cancers. A recent study by Dalla et al. interrogated an existing RNA-sequencing dataset to examine such signatures in patients with non-muscle-invasive bladder cancer (NMIBC).


They first performed several types of analyses to identify the genes that are most significantly associated with recurrence and disease severity. The result was 28 genes that were then narrowed down into sixteen genes that could most accurately separate patients into distinct groups and could be used as potential predictive markers. All sixteen genes were upregulated in patients who experienced relapse or progression of the disease and involved in key cancer pathways.

The authors then focused on three specific genes (RFX8, ARL14, and HS6ST1), of which at least one was found to be upregulated in patients with recurrence. RFX8 is a transcription factor that plays key roles in the cell cycle and DNA repair. ARL14 is a GTPase involved in vesicular transport and has been proposed as a prognostic marker in lung cancer as its inhibition is associated with tumor dormancy. HS6ST1 is an enzyme that has been implicated in angiogenesis and cancer.

Further studies will be needed to validate the expression of these potential biomarkers. However, the identification of novel potential markers can aid in predicting the recurrence and progression of NMIBC, thereby providing crucial information that can guide treatment plans.

Written by: Bishoy M. Faltas, MD, Director of Bladder Cancer Research, Englander Institute for Precision Medicine, Weill Cornell Medicine, New York City, New York

References:

  1. Dalla, E., Picco, R., Novara, G., Moro, F. D., & Brancolini, C. (2022). Identification of a gene signature for the prediction of recurrence and progression in non-muscle-invasive bladder cancer. Molecular biomedicine3(1), 9. https://doi.org/10.1186/s43556-022-00069-0.

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