Comparative study of NMP-22, telomerase, and BTA in the detection of bladder cancer

Purpose: The diagnostic efficacy of Nuclear Matrix Protein-22 (NMP-22), bladder tumor antigen (BTA TRAK), and telomerase activity was evaluated in urine in a trial to assess their value in the detection of bladder cancer and to compare it to that of routine urine cytology. Subjects and Methods: The study included 46 newly diagnosed bladder cancer patients, diagnosed by cystoscopy and histopathological typing, in addition to 20 patients with benign bladder lesions and 20 healthy age and sex matched volunteers as a control group. Fifty percent of the cancer patients (23/46) had proven bilharzial history. Most patients (27/46) had transitional cell carcinoma (TCC), 17/46 had squamous cell carcinoma (SCC), while only 2 patients had adenocarcinoma. A single freshly voided urine sample (? 100ml) was collected from each patient and control subject and aliquoted for each test. All assays were conducted according to the manufacturer’s guidelines and the results were compared to those of urine cytology. Results: The optimal cutoffs for NMP-22, BTA and telomerase activity as calculated by ROC curves were 12.1 U/ml, 78 U/ml, 0.48 (Ratio) respectively. The levels of the three parameters were significantly higher in the malignant group compared to either the benign group or normal controls, (p