An accurate diagnostic approach for urothelial carcinomas based on novel dual methylated DNA markers in small-volume urine

Diagnostic methods for urothelial carcinomas(UCs)are often invasive or have suboptimal accuracy.Methylation of exfoliated cell DNA or cell-free DNA in urine has shown great promise in the diagnosis of UCs.However,most current studies have focused on bladder cancer(BCa),and only a few high-plex methylated DNA panels based on large-volume urine have been reported to exhibit both high sensitivity and specificity.[1,2]The purpose of this study was to identify universal biomarkers for BCa and upper tract urothelial carcinoma(UTUC)using a small volume of urine.We developed a dual-target diagnostic panel comprising the novel marker AL021918.2 and the well-known BCa biomarker Vimentin(VIM).This panel can accurately detect UCs using only 1.8 mL of full-voided urine.