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Application of PLK1 and HOXA13 Gene Expression Levels in Urine in the Diagnosis of Non-muscle Invasive Bladder Cancer

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Abstract

Bladder cancer is the most common urinary tract neoplasm, affecting many people annually. Current diagnostic and surveillance methods for bladder cancer are frequently invasive and lack sensitivity and specificity. This study aimed to develop an accurate and non-invasive urine-based gene expression assay, including fibroblast growth factor receptor 3 (FGFR3), homeobox A13 (HOXA13), and polo-like kinase 1 (PLK1), to diagnose non-muscle-invasive bladder cancer (NMIBC) at stages Ta and T1. The samples were acquired from 62 patients with NMIBC, 31 control individuals, and 31 patients with non-cancerous genitourinary tract diseases. The expression levels of three relevant genes were determined using quantitative RT-PCR. In addition, the sensitivity and specificity of the data for these genes were computed. Our results showed that PLK1, HOXA13, and FGFR3 expressions of genes were significantly elevated in patients compared to the control groups (p = 0.0001; p = 0.039). The sensitivity and specificity for the FGFR3 gene were 55% and 76%, respectively (p = 0.39). These parameters for HOXA13 were 100% and 93% (p = 0.0001) and for PLK1 were 100% and 86% (p = 0.0001) for diagnosing and monitoring NMIBC. HOXA13 and PLK 1 exhibited adequate specificity and sensitivity for diagnosis. The results of this research showed that despite the higher expression of these genes in urine, only HOXA13 and PLK1 had sufficient and proper specificity and sensitivity, so the urinary expression of these two genes can be used in future studies for diagnosis and monitoring in cancer bladder.

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Data Availability

The data supporting this study’s findings are available on reasonable request from the corresponding author.

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Funding

The present study did not get any dedicated financial support from public, commercial, or not-for-profit funding organizations.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Clinical Biochemistry, School of Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Shahid Sadoughi University of Medical Sciences & Health Services, Yazd, Iran

    Sahar Valizadeh, Serajedin Vahidi, Omid Abazari & Javad Zavar Reza

  2. Department of Clinical Biochemistry, International Campus, Shahid Sadoughi University of Medical Sciences, Yazd, Iran

    Sana Taghiyar

  3. Department of Pathology, School of Medicine, Shahid Sadoughi University of Medical Sciences & Health Services, Yazd, Iran

    Mahmood Akhavan Tafti

Authors
  1. Sahar Valizadeh
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  2. Sana Taghiyar
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  3. Serajedin Vahidi
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  4. Omid Abazari
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  5. Mahmood Akhavan Tafti
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  6. Javad Zavar Reza
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Contributions

This publication authors include Sahar Valizadeh, Javad Zavar Reza, Omid Abazari, and Sana Taghiyar. Sahar Valizadeh was responsible for the initial design of the protocol. The proposed activities encompass the registration and approval of research proposals, the execution of experiments, and the systematic collection of data. Javad Zavar Reza is responsible for overseeing the research project, including the design of the study and its methodology. Additionally, he analyses and interprets the data and develops the overall research strategy. Furthermore, he contributed to the refinement and editing of the draft article. Omid Abazari conducted the initial design of the procedure. Sana Taghiyar is now composing the article’s initial version and examining the gathered data. Serajedin Vahidi: Collecting samples and allowing access to patients’ files in the hospital. Mahmood Akhavan Tafti: Cytology and pathology responses of patients.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Javad Zavar Reza.

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The writers affirm that they have no competing interests.

Ethical Approval

The research protocols involving human subjects underwent a thorough review process. They received approval from the Iranian Registry of Clinical Trials (IR.SSU.MEDICINE.REC.1402.123) or the Yazd University of Medical Sciences Research Ethics Committee.

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Patients provided written informed permission before study-related procedures and consented to publication of the results.

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Valizadeh, S., Taghiyar, S., Vahidi, S. et al. Application of PLK1 and HOXA13 Gene Expression Levels in Urine in the Diagnosis of Non-muscle Invasive Bladder Cancer. Biochem Genet (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10528-024-10735-3

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