Most importantly, our study has also revealed a new mechanism whereby TGF-β1 dominates stromal fibroblast-mediated EMT of BLCA cells by the FAP/VCAN axis (Additional file 10G), and identified potential biomarkers of BLCA: FAP, VCAN, N-cadherin, and Vimentin. This evidence concerns the gene VCAN and bladder transitional cell carcinoma.