Transcriptome-Wide Analysis Of Alternative Splicing Events In Bladder Cancer: Novel Biomarkers Discovery For Early Diagnosis

483Background: Cystoscopy, an invasive, painful and expensive method, is currently the main clinical tool for new diagnosis and disease recurrence detection of bladder cancer (BCa). The need for new biomarkers discovery that is costless, sensitive and specific is urgent. This project aims to study and compare alternative splicing events (ASE) in BCa tissues and normal bladder tissues and ultimately, identify specific spliced events coding for proteins detectable in urine by liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry. Methods: In this study, alterations to the global RNA splicing landscape of cellular genes were investigated in a large-scale screen from 408 BCa tissues and 19 normal tissues provided by The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA). Three statistical thresholds were used to determine substantial modifications. All events showing a p-valueu003c0.05 and a level of expression ≥ 50 transcripts per million; -10 ≥ Δ percent splice index ≤10; and a q-valueu003c0.05 were conserved. Next, mRNA expression levels between cance...