Identification of genetic pathways involved in progression of high grade non-muscle invasive bladder cancer

Non-Muscle Invasive Bladder Cancer (NMIBC) is a heterogeneous disease that includes tumours with low and high risk of progression to muscle invasion. Nowadays, clinico-pathological features alone are not sufficient to effectively classify these patients, and the discovery of new biomarkers is essential to increase quality of their life, to select patients who should only be treated with a radical high-morbidity approach, whenever needed, depending on the type of NMIBC tumor developed. (Delta)Np63 has previously been reported by our group as a protective factor of High Grade (HG) NMIBC progression. In this project we aim to identify the genetic alterations associated with this p63 isoform loss that confer the aggressive phenotype to tumor cells.