Role of molecular markers in bladder cancer

Bladder cancer is one of the malignancies for which extensive information regarding molecular pathogenesis and genetic predictors of natural history as well as response to various modalities of treatment based on molecular profile is available. As more prognostic markers are being investigated in clinical trial settings, in the not very distant future we will be able to use these predictive markers in clinical decision-making. Bladder cancer is the second most common genitourinary tumor and is a significant cause of morbidity and mortality. A need for tumor markers that can be incorporated into clinical practice to add prognostic information and to refine the conventional TNM and grading systems in terms of treatment response and prognosis is crucial. Intravesical and systemic chemotherapy in bladder cancer are limited in their efficacy in the treatment of bladder cancer patients primarily when they are unable to induce apoptosis in bladder tumor cells. Understanding the apoptotic signals and the cascade of reactions that give pro-survival signals will go a long way in refining the treatments and will help in the future to individualize cancer therapies. It is imperative to study the role of these mechanisms in prospective clinical trials in a quest to find predictive markers that can help to tailor treatments, keeping in view the molecular heterogeneity.