The diagnostic and prognostic value of nuclear matrix protein 22 in bladder cancer

This study aimed to evaluate the diagnostic and prognostic value of urine nuclear matrix protein 22 (NMP22) for bladder cancer.

A retrospective analysis was performed on 229 patients with bladder cancer who underwent transurethral resection of bladder tumor between 2015 and 2018 in our hospital. The sensitivity of NMP22 was calculated to evaluate the diagnostic value of NMP22. Logistic regression analyses were applied to investigate the prognostic value of NMP22 for pathologic features in bladder cancer.

The sensitivity of NMP22 for the detection of bladder cancer was 28.82%, and the false negative rate was 71.18%. The sensitivity of NMP22 for the detection of low-grade disease and high-grade disease were 11.11% and 38.51%. NMP22 had significantly higher sensitivity for the detection of high-grade bladder cancer (P<0.001). The sensitivity of NMP22 for the detection of Ta, T1 and T2 disease were 20.78%, 50.85% and 25.00% respectively (Ta refers to noninvasive papillary carcinoma, T1 refers to tumor invades subepithelial connective tissue, T2 refers to tumor invades muscularis propria). NMP22 had significantly higher sensitivity for detection of T1 disease (P<0.001). Univariate and multivariate logistic regression analysis suggested NMP22 might be an independent prognostic factor for high-grade (P<0.001) and T1 disease (P<0.001) in patients with bladder cancer.

Although the sensitivity of NMP22 was significantly higher in the detection of T1 and high-grade bladder cancer, the false negative rate was high. Besides, the NMP22 might be a prognostic factor for high-grade and T1 bladder cancer, but considering the limitations of this study, further studies are needed.