Allelic deletion fingerprinting of urine cell sediments in bladder cancer

Background: Bladder cancer shows frequent nonrandom allelic deletion at var ious chromosomal regions. Genotypic detection methods could potentially ide ntify patients at risk for recurrent progressive disease. In this study, we examined allelic deletion at specific chromosomal loci in tumor tissue and urine cell sediment samples using a microsatellite-based protocol. Althoug h both allelic deletion and microsatellite instability have been reported i n primary bladder cancer, microsatellite instability was not specifically e xamined in this study. We report a pilot study of 40 patients with bladder cancer in which allelic deletion in tumor tissue and urine cell sediment wa s compared with conventional urine cytology results. Methods and Results: Forty tumors were analyzed using a set of microsatelli te primers from chromosomes 3, 4, 8, 11, 14, and 17 to construct allelic de letion fingerprints. Cy5.5-labeled PCR products were analyzed using the Ope nGene System and GeneObjects software. Eighty-eight percent of tumors showe d allelic deletion. In urine cell sediments, the tumor detection rate was 8 0% compared with 50% for routine urine cytology. The allelic deletion finge rprinting (ADF) procedure identified 69% of incipient tumors, cases initial ly classified as normal by routine urine cytology. Conclusion: ADF analysis provides a reliable noninvasive method for the det ection and monitoring of recurrent cancer in urine cell sediment samples fr om patients with bladder cancer.