Can We Use Single Nucleotide Polymorphism and Runt Domain Transcription Factor 3 Methylation as Tumor Markers for Bladder Cancer?

Purpose: Although many tumor markers have been evaluated in relation to bladder cancer, none of these biomarkers reported to date has shown sufficient sensitivity and specificity for the detection of the whole spectrum of bladder cancer diseases in routine clinical practice. The limited value of the established prognostic markers requires analysis of new molecular parameters of interest for predicting the prognosis of bladder cancer patients. Materials and Methods: We conducted a review of the literature with a focus on recent advances in genetic polymorphism and hypermethylation events in relation to bladder transitional cell carcinoma. Results: Recently, there has been major progress in both genetic polymorphism in relation to bladder cancer and molecular genetic and epigenetic changes leading to the development of transitional cell carcinoma. However, studies on numerous single-nucleotide polymorphisms in relation to bladder cancer have provided only a few genetic polymorphisms with only marginal information on patients’ prognosis. For this reason, interest is increasing in epigenetic changes in bladder cancer. The epigenetic silencing of tumor suppressor genes is interesting from a clinical standpoint because of the possibility to reverse the epigenetic changes and thus restore gene function to a cell. Treatment with DNA methylation inhibitors can restore the activities of dormant genes and decrease the growth rate of cancer cells in a heritable fashion. Conclusions: Epigenetic modification may be possible to partially reverse the cancer phenotype, and this will eventually lead to targeted therapy tailored toward specific molecular therapy in the near future. (Korean J Urol 2009;50:311-319) 󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏