Impact of molecular subtypes in muscle-invasive bladder cancer on predicting response and survival outcome to neoadjuvant chemotherapy: results from a multi-institutional validation study

Four different molecular classifications of muscle-invasive bladder cancer (MIBC) based on gene expression have been proposed. With the ultimate goal of utilizing these molecular subtypes for personalized treatment, we investigated their significance in the context of neoadjuvant cisplatin-based chemotherapy (NAC). RNA was isolated from pre-NAC transurethral resection (TUR) specimens from 305 patients with MIBC and whole transcriptome profiling was performed. Samples were classified according to four published molecular subtyping methods.