Dr. Meeks Discusses Smoking Status in Bladder Cancer

Joshua Meeks, MD, PhD, assistant professor of urology, biochemistry, and molecular genetics, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, section chief of robotic surgery, Jesse Brown VA Medical Center, discusses the role of smoking status in the diagnosis of bladder cancer.

Bladder cancer has historically been linked to smoking, Meeks says. When The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) first detailed the gene expression profiling, whole-exome sequencing, methylomics, and regulons of more than 400 patients with bladder cancer in 2014, Meeks says that he was shocked that the mutations identified in smokers were the same mutations identified in nonsmokers. Additionally, the gene expression profiles did not show any differences.

Although the overall number of mutations was not different in the 2 groups, the signatures were completely different in smokers and nonsmokers, Meeks explains. The utility of this information is not known. Meeks says that the biggest question is where the mutations are coming from in non-smokers. The next step is to find out where those cancers come from, and figure out if there are ways to prevent or target it.