Biomedical subjects
V Menendez
Publications and source records attributed to V Menendez.
Usefulness of urinary nuclear matrix protein 22 (NMP22) as a marker for transitional cell carcinoma of the bladder.
OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study was to evaluate an immunoassay for urinary nuclear matrix protein, NMP22, as a novel marker for urothelial cancer. PATIENTS AND METHODS: NMP22 values were determined for 71 patients and 21 healthy volunteers. Each subject provided a single (3 voids) urine sample for analysis at the time of entry into the study. Each sample was assayed for levels of NMP22. RESULTS: When the cut-off value was set at 10 U/ml, the positive rate for urinary NMP22 in bladder cancer was 37.8% (17 out of 45), whereas that in post-treatment cases and benign diseases was 30.8% (8 out of 26) compared to 14.3% (3 out of 21) for healthy volunteers. This cut-off value provided a sensitivity of 37.8% and a specificity of 80.9%. In the bladder cancer group, NMP22 levels were related to tumor size, shape, grade and stage. CONCLUSIONS: Despite the many reports that suggest NMP22 as a promising urinary marker for monitoring transitional cell carcinoma, this study does not support its usefulness as a substitute tool for urinary cytology in the control of bladder tumors.
TPA prognostic value in superficial bladder cancer.
We determined the levels of TPA in 133 patients with superficial bladder cancer. 79 cases were Ta stages, and 54 cases T1 stages. 53 of the tumors were well differentiated (I), 65 moderately differentiated (II) and 15 undifferentiated (III). The average follow-up time of these patients was 8.3 months; the standard deviation being 5.2 months (median value 7 months). In 43 cases a relapse of the tumor was observed. We detected high TPA levels in 25% of the patients, without observing meaningful differences in tumor invasion or in its differentiation degree. The usefulness of the TPA, the degree of tumor invasion, and the degree of cell differentiation were evaluated by means of single-variate and multivariate analysis in order to forecast tumor relapse. Only the TPA had a prognostic value, the relative risk of developing relapse being 2.03 times higher in patients with high TPA than patients with normal TPA.