REVIEW OF THE BLADDER CANCER MOLECULAR CLASSIFICATION PROPOSED: A NEW ERA – NEW TAXONOMY

The management of bladder cancer patients largely depends on pathologic staging and grading, and current morphological classification does not always show the individual patient’s risk. Despite modern surgical techniques, pre- and postoperative therapies, clinical outcomes of these patients have not changed over decades. Today, there are new biomarkers for bladder cancer showing changes in tumor biology and progression, as a result of changes in the pathways affecting cell signaling, proliferation, apoptosis, epigenetic changes, angiogenesis, and modulation of host immune response. Assessment of multiple biomarkers associated with those pathways offers new understanding of tumor behavior while identifying important panels of predicting patient management and outcomes. In this review, the most important molecules and basics of the novel molecular classification of bladder cancer are presented.