4.1 Pathogenesis of bladder cancer
The aetiology and pathogenesis of bladder cancer are still less
understood even though it has been characterized to have a high degree
of malignancy and relapse even after surgery.80-82Several findings suggest that in humans, microbiome could be one factor
that can influence the development of cancer, including bladder
cancer.83,84 For example, Campylobactergenus, an opportunistic bacterium of the urinary tract was found
to have pathogenic potential, as it was able to invade epithelial cells,
produce toxins that inhibit NK cells cytotoxicity hence, promoting
evasion of an immune response.83 This genus has the
ability to generate a pro-inflammatory environment that supports tumour
progression.83 The development of bladder cancer has
also been reported to be highly correlated with abnormal expression of
noncoding RNAs and protein-coding genes. 82 Wang et
al82 constructed three-layer network of miRNA-lncRNA
data from several microRNAs and long noncoding RNAs databases to
calculate the topology attributes of nodes and concluded thatE2F1 and E2F2 are important target genes of miRNA-93 whileAKT3 is an important target gene of miRNA-195 and that their
dysregulation may be closely related to cell proliferation and apoptosis
in bladder cancer. Similar findings reported that the dysregulation of
lncRNA and circRNA are important in bladder cancer pathogenesis and
progression.85