Study also shows bladder cancer markers can help predict high risk of fatality
According to a new study published early online in Cancer, smoking affects the course of bladder cancer. More specifically, people who smoke more frequently have a greater chance of developing more aggressive and deadly bladder cancer. Researchers also discovered that a panel of bladder cancer markers could predict which cases are at the highest risk for fatality.
To investigate whether smoking has an affect on how bladder cancer progresses, Richard J. Cote, MD, University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, and Anirban Mitra, MD, PhD, Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California, led a team that analyzed bladder tumors and smoking history in 212 multiethnic patients. Those involved in the study were recruited through the Los Angeles County Cancer Surveillance Program between 1987 and 1996.
According to study results, individuals who smoked intensely were more likely to have a fatal case of bladder cancer, compared with those who never smoked, or who smoked less. Furthermore, researchers discovered that changes in particular proteins are often present in bladder cancers that became deadly. “We have identified a panel of nine molecular markers that can robustly and reproducibly predict bladder cancer prognosis independent of standard clinical criteria and smoking history,” said Mitra. Patients with alterations in 6 to 9 markers had a very poor outcome. Thus, researchers hypothesize that these patients may have benefited from more aggressive treatments.
The number of changes in these proteins was directly proportional to patients’ health outcomes in a progressive fashion. Thus, when determining the characteristics of a given cancer, the study findings confirm the theory that an accumulation of changes is more important than individual changes. For instance, the relationship between smoking intensity and cancer prognosis determined in this study indicates the increasingly harmful effects of smoking.
Cote, Director of the Genitourinary Malignancies Program at University of Miami’s Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center, said, “The study’s findings are extremely clinically relevant as bladder cancer is one of the most expensive malignancies to treat. Personalized patient management is urgently needed for this disease as current clinical stratification cannot predict outcomes of individual patients.”
Source: Wiley.