Molecular Biomarkers & Diagnosis

Under-expression of miR-100 may be a new Carcinogenic pathway for low-grade pTa Bladder Urothelial Carcinomas

Abstract

Nelson Dip, Sabrina T. Reis, Luciana S. Timoszczuk, Daniel Kanda Abe, Marcos Dall’Oglio, Miguel Srougi and Katia R. M. Leite

Objectives: The pathways involved in the carcinogenesis of bladder urothelial carcinoma have been well established and are used for the development of new diagnostic and prognostic markers for the disease. The main genetic pathway for the development of low-grade pTa urothelial carcinomas is related to FGFR3 mutation. MicroRNAs have been related to processes involved in carcinogenesis in many organs, and miR-100 was recently shown to target FGFR3 messenger RNA. Our aim was to study the profile of expression of miR-100 and FGFR3 in low-grade, pTa bladder urothelial carcinoma.
Methods and Materials: Using qRT-PCR, we studied the expression of miR-100 and FGFR3 in 30 patients who had undergone transurethral resection of low-grade, pTa bladder urothelial carcinoma.
Results and Conclusion: There was under-expression of miR-100 and over-expression of FGFR3 in 100% of the specimens. Under-expression of miR-100 might be an alternative pathway for low-grade pTa urothelial bladder carcinogenesis and the identification of this molecular alteration may constitute a new diagnostic and prognostic marker for the disease.