Thanks to the recent discovery of proteins that signal bladder cancer in early stages, screening for bladder cancer could soon be as easy as taking an at-home test.
University of Houston (UH) researchers, who analyzed more than 1,300 urine sample proteins from 2020 to 2023, identified biomarkers that could help doctors detect and diagnose the disease via a simple urine test instead of a cystoscopy—an invasive procedure in which a thin camera is inserted into a patient’s urethra.
The study found that one protein fragment, D-dimer, could play a role in cancer diagnosis or recurrence detection. D-dimer displayed the highest accuracy and sensitivity—at a respective 96% and 97%—of 21 urine proteins discriminating bladder cancer from urology clinic controls during the screening.
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