BACKGROUND: Currently, there are no urinary-based tumour markers with sufficient sensitivity and specificity to replace cystoscopy in the detection of bladder cancer (BCA). Urinary microRNAs are emerging as clinically useful class of biomarkers for early and non-invasive detection of urologic malignancies. PATIENTS AND METHODS: In this study, 155 patients with BCA and 83 healthy controls were enrolled. Expression profiles of urinary miRNAs were obtained using Affymetrix miRNA microarrays and candidate miRNAs further validated in independent cohort using specific TaqMan assays and quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction method. RESULTS: Whole-genome profiling identified miRNA signature with significantly different concentrations in urine of BCA compared to controls (p < 0.01). In the independent validation phase of the study, three miRNAs were confirmed to have significantly higher levels in urine of patients with BCA in comparison with control groups (p < 0.0001). In addition, we observed significant decrease in two miRNAs (p < 0.01) concentrations in the urinary samples collected 3 months after surgery compared to pre-operative samples. CONCLUSION: We identified and validated miRNAs to have significantly higher concentrations in urine of patients with BCA in comparison with controls. Our data have shown that urinary miRNAs could serve as sensitive and specific biomarkers enabling non-invasive detection of BCA.Key words: urinary microRNAs - biomarkers - bladder cancer The authors declare they have no potential conflicts of interest concerning drugs, products, or services used in the study. The Editorial Board declares that the manuscript met the ICMJE recommendation for biomedical papers. This study was supported by Ministry of Health of the Czech Republic, grant No. 15-31071A. All rights reserved.Submitted: 19. 3. 2018Accepted: 20. 3. 2018.