Molecular Diagnostics and Therapeutic Targets in Bladder Cancer (Second Edition)

Dear Colleagues,

Bladder cancer is the sixth most common cancer in the United States and the tenth worldwide. Despite advances in treatment, it remains one of the most challenging and costly malignancies to manage due to its high recurrence rate and biological heterogeneity. While early-stage disease (non-muscle invasive bladder cancer, NMIBC; stages 0–1) has a 5-year survival rate of ~94%, this drops to ~50% for muscle-invasive bladder cancer (MIBC; stage 2) and below 20% for metastatic disease (stages 3–4). These stark differences underscore the need for accurate early detection, refined risk stratification, and targeted therapeutic interventions.

Currently, diagnosis relies heavily on cystoscopy, an invasive and expensive procedure. There is an urgent need for non-invasive, accurate diagnostic approaches that can detect disease earlier, predict progression, and guide therapy. Promising avenues include DNA- and RNA-based assays, protein biomarkers, metabolomic profiling, circulating tumor cells (CTCs), and imaging-based biomarkers. The integration of liquid biopsy, genomic profiling, and multi-omics technologies offers exciting opportunities for innovation.

Therapeutic development in bladder cancer has expanded considerably for MIBC, with immune checkpoint inhibitors, antibody–drug conjugates, and FGFR-targeted therapies now in clinical use. However, treatment for NMIBC remains largely dependent on transurethral resection and intravesical bacillus Calmette–Guérin (BCG). There is a pressing need for novel strategies, including immune-based therapies, targeting key signal transduction pathways, modulation of the DNA damage response, tumor microenvironment reprogramming, and drug repurposing.

This Special Issue invites original research articles, reviews, and perspectives spanning basic, translational, and clinical studies on bladder cancer molecular diagnostics and therapeutic targets. Topics of interest include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Biomarkers for early detection, prognosis, and treatment response, including genomic, transcriptomic, proteomic, metabolomic, and imaging-based markers.
• Liquid biopsy approaches such as circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA), RNA, exosomes, and CTCs.
• Novel therapeutic targets identified through molecular profiling, including genetic alterations, epigenetic regulators, and components of the tumor immune microenvironment.
• Therapeutic strategies, including small molecules, biologics, antibody–drug conjugates, immune checkpoint blockade, cancer vaccines, cell-based therapies, and drug repurposing.
• Integration of multi-omics data to inform personalized treatment selection.
• Preclinical and clinical validation of diagnostic and therapeutic innovations.

We aim to attract a diverse set of manuscripts that will advance the precision diagnosis and targeted treatment of bladder cancer, ultimately improving patient care and outcomes.

Dr. Hideki Furuya
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

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