Current issues in molecular diagnostics of bladder cancer

A.G. Dzidzaria, A.Yu. Pavlov, R.A. Gafanov, S.V. Fastovets, I.B. Kravtsov

Russian Research Center of Radiology and Nuclear Medicine, Moscow

Bladder cancer is one of the most common tumors in the structure of cancer incidence. For a long time, due to poor understanding of the correlations between its molecular and clinical features, there has been little success in treatment of this pathology. The data obtained showed that bladder cancer includes a group of molecular-heterogeneous subtypes, which, in the course of various treatment options, possessed diverse therapeutic responses. Recently, due to the close connection between the molecular subtypes of bladder cancer and clinical and pathological features, specific therapeutic strategies have been proposed. This review summarizes the current understanding of the molecular pathology of bladder cancer, including its molecular biomarkers and molecular subtypes, which have been successfully identified using high technology. Progress in understanding the personalization of treatment of specific molecular subtypes is also discussed.

Keywords: bladder cancer, gene expression, mutation, APOBEC, molecular pathological epidemiology, precision medicine, the cancer genome atlas (TCGA), uroplakin, urothelial carcinoma.
For citation: Dzidzaria A.G., Pavlov A.Yu., Gafanov R.A. et al. Current issues in molecular diagnostics of bladder cancer. RMJ. 2019;2:56–60.