INCREASED LEVELS OF URINARY BASIC FIBROBLAST GROWTH-FACTOR IN BLADDER-CANCER PATIENTS

Urinary basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) was determined by a comp etitive sandwich ELISA test in 26 patients with transitional bladder c ancer and 26 normal volunteers or subjects with benign urological dise ases. The median bFGF value in the patient group was 3.41 ng bFGF/g cr eatinine (range: 0-153.6), significantly higher than the median levels in the control group (1.39 ng/g creatinine; range: 0-4.5). On the bas is of the optimal cut-off point of 2.64 ng bFGF/g creatinine, the sens itivity of the test for detecting bladder cancer was 61.5% and the spe cificity 76.9%. We also studied 17 individuals successfully treated fo r a previous bladder cancer and with no evidence of disease at the mom ent of urine collection (NED group). These subjects showed similar uri nary bFGF levels as those observed in the control group (median 0.24 n g bFGF/g creatinine, range 0-5.1). Our data suggest that the dosage of urinary bFGF could be a non-invasive useful assay in the management o f bladder cancer patients.