ASSESSMENT OF MOLECULAR BIOMARKERS FOR BLADDER CANCER DIAGNOSIS, GRADING AND PROGNOSIS

Abstract

Worldwide, bladder cancer is a very significant public health problem, in terms of prevalence, mortality and management for individuals and their families. Bladder cancer is the fourth most commonly diagnosed cancer in men and one of the heaviest cancers in terms of cost. Although transurethral resection of the bladder followed by intravesical instillation of live attenuated Bacillus Calmette–Guérin (BCG) is considered as the gold standard for patients with intermediate and high risk, only a small portion of patient responds to the BCG-therapy. Bladder cancer management is faced by the therapy failure, great side effects and some difficulties in histological classification. Accordingly, growing interest is given to the use of genetic, epigenetic and immunologic biomarkers for molecular signature characterization and tumor stratification. In Morocco, great efforts have been made to contribute to the improvement of management of bladder cancer and many studies were made to evaluate some genetic and epigenetic biomarkers. Generated data is of a great interest for characterization of bladder cancer tumors in Morocco and could be used for better management of this disease.