Methods for determining the invasiveness of a bladder tumor

DETAILED DESCRIPTION Briefly stated, the present invention provides, in one aspect, methods for determining the invasiveness of a bladder tumor.
In one embodiment, the method comprises the steps of: (a) isolating a urine sample from a warm-blooded animal suspected of possessing a bladder tumor; (b) detecting in the sample the polypeptide composition of a complex which includes basement membrame components, wherein the complex comprises polypeptides selected from a group of polypeptides with approximate molecular weights of 245,000; 190,000; 165,000; 140,000; 125,000; 98,000; 82,000; 74,000; 55,000; 43,000; 35,000; 26,000; and 16,000 as determined by sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis; and (c) determining the invasiveness of the bladder tumor based on the polypeptide composition of the complex.
In another embodiment, the method for determining the invasiveness of a bladder tumor comprises the steps of: (a) isolating a urine sample from a warm-blooded animal suspected of possessing a bladder tumor; (b) measuring in the sample the amount of a first polypeptide of a complex which includes basement membrane components, wherein the first polypeptide has an approximate molecular weight of 165,000; 140,000; or 125,000 as determined by sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis; (c) measuring in the sample the amount of a second polypeptide of the complex, wherein the second polypeptide has an approximate molecular weight of 98,000; 82,000; 74,000; 55,000; 43,000; 35,000; 26,000; or 16,000 as determined by sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis; and (d) calculating the ratio of the amount of the first polypeptide to the amount of the second polypeptide, and determining therefrom the invasiveness of the bladder tumor.
In another embodiment, the method for determining the invasiveness of a bladder tumor comprises the steps of: (a) isolating a urine sample from a warm-blooded animal suspected of possessing a bladder tumor; (b) measuring in the sample a polypeptide of a complex which includes basement membrane components, wherein the complex comprises polypeptides selected from a group of polypeptides with approximate molecular weights of 165,000; 140,000; 125,000; 98,000; 82,000; 74,000; 55,000; 43,000; 35,000; 26,000; and 16,000 as determined by sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis; and (c) determining therefrom the invasiveness of the bladder tumor