[Bladder cancer biomarkers]

Bladder cancer is one of the most prevalent cancers worldwide. Non-muscle invasive bladder cancer has a 70% rate of recurrence. Its biological tendency to recur and progress mandates close follow-up for the early detection of recurrent tumors. Urine cytology is the most widely used noninvasive test to detect urothelial tumors. However, it is limited by its low sensitivity. On the other hand, cystoscopy is the gold standard procedure to follow patients with a history of bladder cancer but this test is invasive and expensive. Therefore, there is a real need to develop new tests that can be used in bladder cancer surveillance. In recent years there is a constant effort to find a better non-invasive marker for bladder cancer. Many markers for the detection of bladder cancers have been tested and almost all urinary markers reported are better than cytology with regard to sensitivity, but they score lower in specificity. Our knowledge of molecular pathways in bladder cancer is growing and new methods of marker development emerge, but the perfect marker is still to be found. Currently, there are not clinically usable molecular markers that can guide us in diagnosis or surveillance, nor guide us in lowering the frequency of urethrocystoscopy in bladder cancer. This article reports some of the more prominent urine markers in use today.