Amyloids as protein traps in bladder cancer

Despite the current diagnostic and therapeutic approaches to bladder cancer being widely accepted, there have been few significant advancements in this field over the past decades. This underscores the necessity for a paradigm shift in the approach to bladder cancer. The role of amyloids in cancer remains unclear despite their identification in several other pathologies. In this study, we present evidence of amyloids in bladder cancer, both in vitro and in vivo. In a murine model of bladder cancer, a positive correlation was observed between amyloids and tumor stage, indicating an association between amyloids and bladder cancer progression. Subsequently, the amyloid proteome of the RT4 non-invasive and HT1197 invasive bladder cancer cell lines was identified and included oncogenes, tumor suppressors, and highly expressed cancer-related proteins. It is proposed that amyloids function as structures that sequester key proteins. Therefore, amyloids should be considered in the study and diagnosis of bladder cancer.