Urinary TAGMe methylation may improve preoperative risk stratification in urothelial cancer

In a study of 375 patients with urothelial carcinoma, urinary TAGMe methylation was associated with adverse pathological features and poorer survival. Adding the marker to conventional variables improved prognostic discrimination in the study cohort; further validation is needed before clinical use.

Study included 375 patients with urothelial carcinoma.
Higher urinary TAGMe was associated with poorer survival.
Adding TAGMe improved risk discrimination in the study cohort.
Independent validation is needed before clinical application.

Researchers measured preoperative urinary TAGMe methylation by methylation-sensitive restriction enzyme quantitative PCR in 375 patients with urothelial carcinoma. They assessed its association with clinicopathological features and recurrence-free, progression-free and overall survival, and evaluated prognostic models incorporating TAGMe alongside conventional variables. Multi-omics analyses and laboratory experiments examined the marker’s regulatory biology.

Higher TAGMe levels were associated with adverse pathological features and poorer outcomes. A nomogram incorporating TAGMe improved risk discrimination compared with conventional clinicopathological variables and refined stratification within pathological subgroups. Laboratory findings indicated that the TAGMe locus has enhancer-like activity and interacts with the BHLHE40-AS1 locus; experiments linked TAGMe methylation to BHLHE40-AS1 expression, while functional assays found that BHLHE40-AS1 suppressed proliferation, migration and epithelial–mesenchymal transition in bladder cancer cells.

The findings support further evaluation of urinary TAGMe as a non-invasive prognostic marker, not a change in current care. The supplied report does not provide performance estimates or describe independent external validation. The study also reports industry relationships involving Epiprobe, including an author currently employed by the company and another serving as its R&D director.

In practice

For patients with urothelial carcinoma, urinary TAGMe methylation is a candidate adjunct to preoperative prognostic assessment: in this 375-patient study, higher levels tracked with adverse pathology and poorer survival, and adding the marker improved risk discrimination in the reported cohort. These results do not establish that TAGMe should guide treatment or surveillance. The supplied text gives no external validation or detailed performance estimates, so clinical utility and generalisability remain uncertain.

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Source

BMC Medicine: Urinary TAGMe methylation enables preoperative risk stratification and reveals enhancer‑mediated regulation in urothelial carcinoma ↗

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