Molecular pathogenesis of urothelial carcinoma: the clinical utility of emerging new biomarkers and future molecular classification of bladder cancer.

Bladder cancer remains one of the most common and expensive cancers to treat worldwide. Numerous molecular markers are being investigated as possible ways to decrease health care costs, increase patient survival and prognosis, and increase sensitivity in screening tests. Several genetic markers have emerged as potential therapeutic targets and have provided new theories concerning the origins and progression of these tumors. Future classifications of bladder tumors should be based on the understanding of disease processes and should incorporate these emerging biomarkers for stratification of tumors into different prognostic groups.