Context: Urothelial carcinoma (UC) is common and highly recurrent. Diagnosis and follow-up involve invasive cystoscopies.
Objective: To evaluate H19 RNA in urine cells as diagnostic tool for UC.
Materials and methods: RT-PCR analysis of urine samples from healthy volunteers and UC patients.
Results: H19 RNA was unequivocally detected in the urine of 90.5% of patients and 25.9% of controls. H19 copies were three orders of magnitude higher in patients. Receiver operating characteristic analysis showed an area under the curve of 0.933.
Conclusions: This pilot study shows that urinary cell H19 is a highly sensitive test for UC and pending verification could transform patient management.
Keywords: Non-coding RNA; bladder cancer; diagnostic biomarkers; urine biomarkers.