ZEB1-AS1 and miR-200b-3p Expression in Non-Muscle-Invasive Bladder Cancer: Pathological Correlates

Purpose: Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) and microRNAs (miRNAs) have emerged as important regulators of the epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) and tumor progression. The present study evaluated the expression profiles of lncRNA ZEB1-AS1 and miR-200b-3p in non-muscle-invasive bladder cancer (NMIBC) tissues and investigated their associations with clinicopathological characteristics. Materials and Methods: Tumor tissues and matched adjacent normal bladder tissue were obtained from 50 patients with primary NMIBC who underwent transurethral resection of bladder tumors. Total RNA was extracted, and expression levels of ZEB1-AS1 and miR-200b-3p were measured using quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR). Relative expression levels were calculated using the 2^-ΔΔCT method. Associations between gene expression levels and clinicopathological parameters were analyzed using non-parametric statistical tests. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis was performed to evaluate diagnostic performance. Results: ZEB1-AS1 and miR-200b-3p demonstrated significantly increased expression in tumor tissues compared with adjacent normal bladder tissue (p = 0.018 and p = 0.034, respectively). ZEB1-AS1 expression was significantly higher in high-grade tumors (p = 0.007), whereas miR-200b-3p expression was more pronounced in low-grade tumors (p = 0.015). No significant associations were identified between expression levels and tumor stage, carcinoma in situ, or variant histology. ROC analysis demonstrated modest diagnostic performance, with AUC values of 0.637 for ZEB1-AS1 and 0.624 for miR-200b-3p. Conclusions: ZEB1-AS1 and miR-200b-3p demonstrated distinct expression patterns associated with tumor grade and may contribute to EMT-associated molecular heterogeneity in NMIBC. Although the individual diagnostic performance of these markers appeared limited, the present findings provide additional insight into non-coding RNA-associated pathways and support further investigation in larger validation studies.