Biomarker discovery and beyond for diagnosis of bladder diseases

Molecular biosignatures of altered cellular landscapes and functions have been casually linked with pathological conditions, which imply the promise of biomarkers specific to bladder diseases, such as bladder cancer and other dysfunctions. Urinary biomarkers are particularly attractive due to costs, time, and the minimal and noninvasive efforts acquiring urine. The evolution of omics platforms and bioinformatics for analyzing the genome, epigenome, transcriptome, proteome, lipidome, metabolome, etc., have enabled us to develop more sensitive and disease-specific biomarkers. These discoveries broaden our understanding of the complex biology and pathophysiology of bladder diseases, which can ultimately be translated into the clinical setting. In this short review, we will discuss current efforts on identification of promising urinary biomarkers of bladder diseases and their roles in diagnosis and monitoring. With these considerations, we also aim to provide a prospective view of how we can further utilize these bladder biomarkers in developing ideal and smart medical devices that would be applied in the clinic.