Urinary levels of Hepatocarcinoma-intestine-pancreas/Pancreatitis-associated protein as a diagnostic biomarker in patients with bladder cancer

BACKGROUND: To assess the possibility of hepatocarcinoma-intestine-pancreas/pancreatitis-associated protein (HIP/PAP) as a biological marker for detecting Bladder cancer (BCa), we examined the expression of HIP/PAP in both BCa specimens and BCa cell lines and measured HIP/PAP levels in urine from patients with BCa. METHODS: HIP/PAP expression in BCa samples was evaluated by western blot analysis, and urinary levels of HIP/PAP in patients with BCa were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Urine samples were collected from 10 healthy volunteers and 109 with benign urological disorders as controls, and from 101 patients who were diagnosed with BCa. RESULTS: HIP/PAP was highly expressed in BCa samples as compared with control bladder. Urinary HIP/PAP concentrations were significantly higher in BCa patients than in controls (median value; 3.184 pg/mL vs. 55.200 pg/mL, P <0.0001, by Mann–Whitney U test). Urinary HIP/PAP levels in BCa patients correlated positively with pathological T stages and progression-risk groups among non-muscle invasive BCa (P = 0.0008, by Kruskal-Wallis test). Regarding the recurrence-risk classifications of non-muscle invasive BCa, the urinary levels of HIP/PAP were significantly higher in the intermediate than in the low risk group (P = 0.0002, by Mann–Whitney U test). Based on a cut-off of 8.5 pg/mL, the ability of urinary HIP/PAP levels to detect BCa had a sensitivity of 80.2%, specificity of 78.2%, positive predictive value (PPV) of 75.7%, and negative predictive value (NPV) of 82.3%. CONCLUSIONS: HIP/PAP was abundantly expressed in BCa, and the urinary levels of HIP/PAP could be a novel and potent biomarker for detection of BCa, and also for predicting the risks of recurrence- and progression-risk of non-muscle invasive BCa. A large scale study will be needed to establish the usefulness of this biomarker.