Biorek S.r.l., San Raffaele Scientific Institute, 20132 Milan, Italy.
Department of Medical Oncology Livestrong Cancer Institutes, Dell Medical School, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX 78723, USA.
Int J Mol Sci. 2022 Feb 26;23(5):2602. doi: 10.3390/ijms23052602.
Upper urinary tract urothelial carcinoma (UTUC) represents a minor subgroup of malignancies arising in the urothelium of the renal pelvis or ureter. The estimated annual incidence is around 2 cases per 100,000 people, with a mean age at diagnosis of 73 years. UTUC is more frequently diagnosed in an invasive or metastatic stage. However, even though the incidence of UTUC is not high, UTUC tends to be aggressive and rapidly progressing with a poor prognosis in some patients. A significant challenge in UTUC is ensuring accurate and timely diagnosis, which is complicated by the non-specific nature of symptoms seen at the onset of disease. Moreover, there is a lack of biomarkers capable of identifying the early presence of the malignancy and guide-tailored medical treatment. However, the growing understanding of the molecular biology underlying UTUC has led to the discovery of promising new biomarkers. Among these biomarkers, there is a class of small non-coding RNA biomarkers known as microRNAs (miRNAs) that are particularly promising. In this review, we will analyze the main characteristics of UTUC and focus on microRNAs as possible novel tools that could enter clinical practice in order to optimize the current diagnostic and prognostic algorithm.
上尿路尿路上皮癌（UTUC）是起源于肾盂或输尿管尿路上皮的恶性肿瘤的一个小亚群。其估计年发病率约为每 10 万人 2 例，平均诊断年龄为 73 岁。UTUC 更常被诊断为侵袭性或转移性。然而，尽管 UTUC 的发病率不高，但 UTUC 在某些患者中具有侵袭性和快速进展的趋势，预后较差。UTUC 的一个重大挑战是确保准确和及时的诊断，这因疾病初期出现的症状的非特异性而变得复杂。此外，目前缺乏能够识别恶性肿瘤早期存在并指导针对性治疗的生物标志物。然而，对 UTUC 基础分子生物学的深入了解导致了有前途的新生物标志物的发现。在这些生物标志物中，有一类称为 microRNAs（miRNAs）的小型非编码 RNA 生物标志物特别有希望。在这篇综述中，我们将分析 UTUC 的主要特征，并重点探讨 microRNAs 作为可能的新型工具，以优化当前的诊断和预后算法。
