Molecular Diagnosis in Bladder Cancer

EpidemiologyBladder cancer (BC) is the most prevalent type of urothelial cancer and is associated with thehighest costs of all cancer types due to intensive patient surveillance. Because bladder tumorsfrequently recur, patients need to be monitored extensively [1-4]. Incidence increases with agewith the highest frequency between the ages of 60-70years.The strongest risk factors associated withBC are smoking,occupational exposure to carcinogens and chronic infection of the Schistosoma haematobium parasite [5]. Recent genome-wide association studies identified multiple loci to be associated with the susceptibility to BC [6, 7]. Mostly men are affected at a ratio of 3:1 and this is mainly explainedby the difference in smoking behavior [8]. Histological subtypes of bladder cancer include urothelial cell carcinoma (90%), squamous cellcarcinoma (6-8%) and adenocarcinoma (1-2%). Urothelial cell carcinoma originates from theepithelial layer of the bladder (urothelium). Squamous cell carcinoma is mainly found in developing countries and associated with chronic infection of S. haematobium.