Background: Early diagnosis of carcinoma of bladder remains a challenge. Survivin, a member of theinhibitor of apoptosis (IAP) protein family, is frequently activated in bladder carcinoma. The objective of thisstudy was to investigate urinary survivin as a marker for diagnosis of urinary bladder. Materials and Methods:We examined urinary survivin concentration in 28 healthy individuals, 46 positive controls and 117 cases ofhistologically proven TCC prior to transurethral resection, using ELISA, and compared values with findings forurinary cytology. Results: Survivin was found to be significantly higher in the cancer group (P<0.05). A cut offvalue of 17.7 pg/ml was proposed, with an approximate sensitivity of 82.9% and specificity of 81.1% (P<0.0001),whereas urine cytology had a sensitivity of 66.7% and a specificity of 96.0%. Conclusions: Urinary survivin canbe used as a non-invasive diagnostic biomarker for TCC bladder, both for primary and recurrent disease.
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