KEY TAKEAWAYS
- The study aimed to assess serum fibronectin and gene polymorphisms as predictors of recurrence and treatment response in patients with NMIBC on BCG therapy.
- Researchers found elevated serum fibronectin predicts early recurrence in NMIBC but not BCG response.
Bladder cancer remains a major health concern, prompting continuous research into new biomarkers and therapeutic approaches. This study focuses on evaluating the role of serum fibronectin levels and fibronectin gene polymorphisms as potential biomarkers for predicting recurrence and treatment response in patients with non-muscle invasive bladder cancer (NMIBC) receiving intravesical BCG therapy.
Ali Nebioğlu and the team aimed to assess the prognostic value of these biomarkers in guiding treatment outcomes.
They performed an inclusive analysis between June 2022 and December 2022, prospectively examining data from 73 patients with NMIBC treated at the Mersin University Urology Clinic and 56 healthy individuals without malignancy. Patients were treated and monitored for intravesical BCG therapy when required. Serum fibronectin levels were measured using the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) method, and Real-Time PCR was employed to analyze fibronectin gene RS10202709 and RS35343655 polymorphisms.
The mean serum fibronectin level in the patient group was 76.794 ± 66.998 ng/ml, compared to 50.486 ± 25.156 ng/ml in the control group, with the difference being statistically significant (P = 0.003). Out of the 73 patients, 53 experienced bladder cancer recurrence and were divided into early and late recurrence groups.
The early recurrence group had a mean fibronectin level of 102 ± 86.1 ng/ml, notably higher than the 44.7 ± 11.8 ng/ml observed in the late recurrence group. Patients with early recurrence demonstrated significantly elevated serum fibronectin levels compared to those with late recurrence (P < 0.001), indicating fibronectin’s potential as a prognostic biomarker.
The study concluded that the significantly higher concentrations of serum fibronectin levels observed in patients with bladder cancer highlight its potential as a valuable prognostic biomarker for early recurrence in NMIBC. However, its predictive value for response to BCG therapy remains limited.
This study was funded by the Mersin University Scientific Research Projects Unit as a project coded BAP 2022-1-TP3-4563.
Source: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/39342212/
Nebioğlu A, Tanrıverdi R, Başaranoğlu M, et al. (2024). “Evaluation of serum fibronectin levels and fibronectin gene polymorphism in patients receiving intravesical BCG therapy for non-muscle invasive bladder cancer and its prognostic value.” BMC Urol. 2024;24(1):210. Published 2024 Sep 28. doi:10.1186/s12894-024-01592-8
