Simple bladder cancer test can accurately predict the return of the disease for 80% of patients

Researchers have developed a machine which can detect a protein called TERT
People suffering with bladder cancer often have high levels of TERT in their urine
Detecting presence of TERT early could lead to earlier diagnosis and treatment
Bladder cancer is the seventh most common cancer in the UK, statistics show

A simple bladder cancer test developed by scientists can accurately predict the return of the disease for 80 per cent of patients.

Researchers have developed a machine that can quickly measure levels of a faulty protein in human urine known as TERT.

People with bladder cancer often have high levels of TERT in their urine, and detecting the protein before the disease takes hold could lead to earlier treatment.

The current standard method used by, called cytology, can detect the return of bladder cancer for just 34 per cent of patients.

Bladder cancer is the seventh most common cancer in the UK, with more than 10,400 news cases diagnosed every year.

A simple bladder cancer test developed by scientists can accurately predict the return of the disease for 80 per cent of patients

E-CIGS TRIGGER BLADDER CANCER

The rise in e-cigarette popularity has previously been praised for helping nicotine addicts to quit their smoking habit – yet the debate about their long-term effects rages on.

So-called vaping triggers cancer-related bladder tissue damage, a new study reveals, causing researchers to warn e-cigarette users that they may be putting themselves at risk of the condition.

Some 92 percent of e-cigarette users’ urine tested positive for two of the five compounds linked to bladder cancer, the research found.

The finding contradicts a recent study that claimed e-cigarettes do not cause cancer at any nicotine dose.

More than 9 million adults in the US and around 2.9 million in the UK use e-cigarettes.

What did they study find?

For the study, researchers tested the urine of 348 bladder cancer patients to look for the presence of TERT.

The researchers found that the presence of TERT could accurately predict the presence of the disease for 80 per cent of people.

And the test could detect cancers that had not yet spread to the muscle wall of the bladder, which could help doctors to diagnose the disease and start treatment earlier.

Professor Alain Ruffion, a researcher based at the University Hospital of Lyon’s Oncology Institute, said: ‘The standard cytology test needs a doctor to look down a microscope to read the results, but the TERT test is read by a machine which is simpler, more accurate and available to use straightaway.

‘While the TERT test costs slightly more than standard cytology, it is likely to become cheaper over time.’

‘The fact that the test doesn’t react to urinary tract infections is very interesting because it shows that it is robust and unlikely to give misleading results.’

Bladder cancer is the seventh most common cancer in the UK, with more than 10,400 news cases diagnosed every year

The test was also better at distinguishing between bladder cancer and urinary tract infections.

And the discovery also suggests that further research is needed to understand how the presence of TERT could the risk of cancer.

Anna Perman, senior science information manager at Cancer Research UK, said: ‘This promising study suggests a new and more accurate early warning system to detect whether bladder cancers are likely to return.

Larger trials are now needed to see if this information could help more people survive by catching bladder cancer’s return at its earliest stage.’