Bladder Cancer Test Superior to Cytology

Clinical trials show that a bladder cancer test detected four times more early stage bladder tumors and 2.5 times as many life-threatening, high-grade tumors as cytology. The test has been cleared by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for monitoring patients with a history of bladder cancer.

The clinical trial included 668 subjects from 23 trial sites. The test measures the level of nuclear matrix protein (NMP) 22 in urine. NMPs are found in the nuclei of cells where they contribute to the nuclear structure and regulate various cell functions. NMP is elevated in bladder cancer cells by 20-80 times and is released into the urine of bladder cancer patients. Doctors are using the test, called NMP22 BladderChek, in conjunction with cystoscopy. The test looks and works much like a home pregnancy test, says the developer, Matritech, Inc. (Newton, MA, USA).

"Current testing methods alone do not provide sufficiently high accuracy for detecting bladder cancer,” said Ihor Sawczuk, M.D., chief of urologic oncology at Hackensack University Medical Center (NJ, USA). "Physicians need NMP22 BladderChek to increase their confidence of detecting patients with bladder cancer.”




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