Identification of novel prognostic biomarkers for bladder cancer in Egyptian patients using mass spectrometry

Background: Proteomic biomarkers are considered a central analytical method that improves the outcome of early progression and diagnosis with high accuracy in bladder cancer (BC). Currently, several proteins are detected in plasma and tissues using proteomic techniques, making it challenging to compare and identify common pathways and proteins. Method: Using mass spectrometry, which can analyze multiple proteins with specific biological considerations and technical implications with high sensitivity and specificity, we identified clinically relevant protein biomarkers in tissue and plasma samples from healthy controls and patients with bladder cancer. The results were analyzed using bioinformatics to evaluate several proteins in the tissue and plasma. Results: We identified six candidate biomarkers (GSN, HP, SERPINA1, A2M, HBB, and HBD) that were correlated with increased tumor progression in the Egyptian population. Conclusion: Our research focused on genes that are upregulated or downregulated. This indicated that A2M and SERPINA1 could serve as more specific upregulated biomarkers for plasma cancer samples, while GSN, HBB, HBD, and HP could be the downregulated ones for tissue cancer samples. Among patients with bladder cancer, different proteins have been reported to be under different regulations as compared to healthy controls. Thus, there is still a need for further studies in order to ascertain their functionality and treatment prospects, as well as to underscore their significance in pathogenesis as early predictor biomarkers.