Cancer tests (pexels photo)
A new urine test can help predict bladder cancer more than a decade before symptoms begin to appear. The test, which looks for genetic mutations in urine, detects the most common type of bladder cancer up to 12 years before diagnosis. Scientists hope that regular screening using this new test for those most vulnerable to the disease may lead to earlier diagnoses and treatment.
Bladder cancer is the fourth most common cancer among American men. While it is less common in women, it still affects over 82,000 people each year. According to the American Cancer Society, 16,710 Americans will die from the disease in 2023.
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The research team claims that detecting the cancer at an early stage will lead to saving lives and will prevent unnecessary surgeries in healthy people. Only about half of those diagnosed with advanced forms of the disease will survive more than five years. Mainly due to late diagnoses and the recurrence of the disease. However, if the cancer is detected early, more than 80% of patients survive at least five years.
The joint study involving French, Iranian and American scientists used a new urine test – called the UroAmp test – that detects mutations across 60 genes. The test was developed by Convergent Genomics. A spin-out company of Oregon Health & Science University.
Based on previous studies of genetic mutations associated with bladder cancer, the research team narrowed the test to focus on mutations in 10 genes. Working alongside colleagues at Tehran University of Medical Sciences in Iran, they tested the new test using samples from the Golestan Cohort Study, which followed the health of more than 50,000 participants for 10 years, all of whom provided urine samples at study entry.
A total of 40 people in the study developed bladder cancer during the decade that the study lasted. The research team was able to test urine samples from 29 of these participants along with samples from nearly 100 similar participants as a control.
Of the 29 participants who had bladder cancer, the test was able to accurately predict bladder cancer in 19 people (66%) – even though the samples were taken up to 12 years before the diagnosis. A group of 14 of these participants were diagnosed within seven years of providing the urine sample, of which the test was able to predict cancer in 12 cases (86%).
The test was also 96% accurate in predicting participants who would not develop bladder cancer in the future from the control group. Among that number who tested negative but eventually developed bladder cancer, no cancer was detected until six years after their samples were collected.
“We clearly identified the most important acquired genetic mutations that can significantly increase the risk of developing cancer within ten years. Our results were consistent in two very different groups – those with known risk factors undergoing cystoscopy and people who assumed they were healthy,” said one of the study’s authors.
“If the results are replicated in larger groups, urine tests for these mutations may allow routine testing for high-risk groups, such as smokers or those who are exposed to known bladder carcinogens during their work.”
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