Urinary BLCA1 is specific for urothelial cancer detection in Chinese ethnicity.

AIM To study the potential of BLCA1 for detection of urothelial cancer including urinary bladder cancer (UBC) and upper tract urothelial cancer (UTUC). METHOD An antibody for BLCA1 was generated and indirect ELISA was used to detect urinary BLCA1 level. Clinicopathological parameters were studied for the association with BLCA1 level. Urine samples from UBC and UTUC patients, together with cases with other urological disorders were collected and tested. RESULTS Urinary BLCA1 level in UBC and UTUC patients were significantly higher than that in normal controls. This was also proven when urothelial cancers were grouped as a whole, where as the level did not differ between UBC and UTUC samples. BLCA1 was also significantly higher in urothelial cancer samples compared to other urological disorders such as patients with long-dwelling catheter, glandular cystitis, BPH and other benign conditions. Cut-off value at 0.0009 OD/μg yielded a sensitivity of 92.7% and a specificity of 92.9% for UBC. CONCLUSION Urinary BLCA1 is a promising marker for urothelial cancers including UBC and UTUC with high sensitivity and specificity.