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Prognostic Genetic Signatures in Upper Tract Urothelial Carcinoma

Current Urology Reports volume 17, Article number: 12 (2016) Cite this article

Abstract

Urothelial carcinoma is a highly heterogeneous disease that can arise throughout the entire urothelial lining from the renal pelvis to the proximal urethra. Upper tract urothelial carcinoma (UTUC) is rare, and while it shares many similarities with urothelial carcinoma of bladder (UCB), there are also significant differences between UTUC and UCB regarding clinical management and outcomes. No major advances have been made recently in the development of new systemic therapies for urothelial carcinoma, partly due to the lack of understanding of underlying molecular pathogenetic mechanisms. In the past decade, the emergence of next-generation sequencing has greatly enabled genomic characterization of tumor samples. Researchers are currently exploring a personalized approach to augment traditional clinical decision-making based on genetic alterations. In the present review, we summarize current genomic advances in UTUC and discuss the potential implications of these developments for developing prognostic and predictive biomarkers.

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Affiliations

  1. Urology Service, Department of Surgery, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY, USA

    Qiang Li, Aditya Bagrodia, Eugene K. Cha & Jonathan A. Coleman

  2. Urology Service, Department of Surgery, Kimmel Center for Prostate and Urologic Cancers, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, 353 E. 68th Street, New York, NY, 10065, USA

    Jonathan A. Coleman

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  1. Qiang Li
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  2. Aditya Bagrodia
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  3. Eugene K. Cha
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  4. Jonathan A. Coleman
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Correspondence to Jonathan A. Coleman.

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Conflict of Interest

Qiang Li, Aditya Bagrodia, Eugene K. Cha, and Jonathan A. Coleman each declare no potential conflicts of interest.

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This article does not contain any studies with human or animal subjects performed by any of the authors.

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This article is part of the Topical Collection on Urothelial Cancer

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Li, Q., Bagrodia, A., Cha, E.K. et al. Prognostic Genetic Signatures in Upper Tract Urothelial Carcinoma. Curr Urol Rep 17, 12 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11934-015-0566-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11934-015-0566-y

Keywords

  • Upper tract urothelial carcinoma
  • Genomics
  • Prediction
  • Biomarkers