20S Proteasome and UCH-L1 Concentrations Investigated as Biomarkers in TCC

Researchers from Bialystok, Poland investigated 20S proteasome and ubiquitin carboxy-terminal hydrolase L1 (UCH-L1) concentrations via plasmon resonance imaging (SPRi)-based biosensors in the blood serum and urine of patients with transitional cell carcinoma (TCC) to understand cancer progression and the ubiquitin-proteasome system (UPS).

As the 10th most common cancer across the globe, urinary bladder cancer is associated with 549,343 diagnosed cases and about 200,000 deaths per year. TCC is known to be one of the most predominant types of bladder cancer.

“The ubiquitin-proteasome system participates in the degradation of proteins which play an important role in regulating the cell cycle, apoptosis, and angiogenesis, as well as in the immune system,” explained Anna Sankiewicz, MD, University of Bialystok, Poland, and co-investigators.

Results from both 20S proteasome and UCH-L1 concentrations in this study were correlated with clinicopathological parameters.

82 patients with TCC were enrolled with an addition of 27 healthy volunteers to a control group.

Their findings discovered that both the 20S proteasome and UCH-L1 concentrations were significantly elevated in both the serum and urine of TCC patients when compared to the control group. Further, concentrations were significantly higher for high-grade than low-grade TCC (p=0.0033) and higher for primary rather than recurrent TCC.

20S proteasome appeared to be associated with aggressiveness (sensitivity 82%, specificity 42%) and UCH-L1 with invasiveness (75.77%).

“It may be speculated that UCH-L1 is a stronger bladder cancer predictor: a higher concentration of this marker relative to the 20S proteasome increases the probability of cancer. This is in line with previous considerations of the role of UCH-L1 in the oncogenic process,” continued Dr Sankiewicz, et al.

In previous studies, 20S proteasomes have shown therapeutic benefit when selectivity inhibited, particularly in the treatment of hematologic malignancies such as lymphoma and myeloma.

The SPRi biosensors used to detect 20S proteasome and UCH-L1 in serum and urine are a simple, cost-effective tool to analyze concentrations within biomolecules. This diagnostic tool provides an accessible alternative to conventional tests.

“The SPRi biosensor sensitive to 20S proteasome using PSI inhibitor as the receptor and the SPRi biosensor sensitive to the UCH-L1 protein using the protein-specific antibody as the receptor is suitable for the determination of 20S proteasome and UCH-L1 in body fluids and can serve as useful tools in the investigation of cancer biomarkers,” concluded Dr Sankiewicz, et al. – Alexa Stoia