Detection of Telomerase Activity in Urine as a Tool for Noninvasive Detection of Recurrent Bladder Tumors Is Poor and Cannot Be Improved by Timing of Sampling

[摘要] Cystoscopy is considered the gold standard as a diagnostic tool for recurrent urothelial cell carcinomas (UCCs). Unfortunately, this procedure is both invasive and costly. As a noninvasive alternative, various biomarkers have been tested in the urine of patients with bladder cancer (1). One of the most promising markers is the presence of telomerase activity (1)(2).Following these interesting findings, we analyzed urine samples of 42 patients for the presence of telomerase activity and hTERT mRNA, which codes for the catalytic subunit of telomerase (3). All 42 patients were suspected for recurrent UCC by cystoscopy and were identical to the patients presented in the accompanying report (4). Second voided morning urines were collected before transurethral resection, processed, …

[学科分类] 过敏症与临床免疫学