The clinical relevance of urinary soluble fas (sFas) for diagnosis of bilharzial bladder cancer

Background: Fas/CD95, a membrane-bound type I protein, plays a key role in induction of apoptosis and intumorigenesis. Objective: We adapted and evaluated measurement of urinary sFas using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assayand compared the results with voided urine cytology. Materials and Methods: Voided urine samples were provided from 203 individuals (120 bladder cancer [112bilharzial]; 43 benign urologic disorders [20 bilharzial dysplastic lesions]; and 40 healthy volunteers). Urinesediment was used for cytology and the supernatant for estimation of sFas by ELISA. Results: A receiver operating characteristic curve (ROC) was used to determine the best cutoff value for urinarysFas. Positivity rates and mean rank levels for sFas showed significant difference among the three investigatedgroups (p Conclusion: Urinary sFas may be used as a novel noninvasive diagnostic marker for bilharzial bladder cancerpatients. Further multicentric studies are warranted to corroborate these findings and to establish an optimalsFas cut-point. Keywords: Bilharzial bladder cancer, sFas, voided urine cytology