Urine biomarkers for bladder cancer initial detection and surveillance: a multicentric study to assess the diagnostic accuracy of a comprehensive tool. – UBIOBCA

Bladder cancer (BC) ranks as the tenth most prevalent cancer in the world (IARC, WHO), with a steady rise in its incidence and prevalence, and is accompanied by a high morbidity and mortality. Absence of reliable screening methods, invasiveness of diagnostic modalities, and high recurrence rates, makes BC one of the most challenging and expensive cancers to diagnose and treat. Cystoscopic examination is considered as the gold standard for BC assessment, but although the detection rate is high, the technique/equipment is expensive, invasive, not available worldwide, and most importantly uncomfortable and associated with risk of complications. Therefore, there is a critical need to develop a non-invasive, low cost, and sensitive method for the early detection and monitoring of BC. Each of our groups have developed promising, simple and low-cost urine-based diagnostic tests for the non-invasive early detection of BC through preclinical exploratory studies.
In this project, we aim to investigate the robustness of these biomarkers in our reciprocal populations through a large international multicentric study (Canada, France, Germany), and determine the diagnostic accuracy of each test and combined ones. This would demonstrate the applicability of each of our tests to be used as universal non-invasive biomarkers for early detection and surveillance of BC in different populations, and determine whether a multi-analyte urine biomarker through a combination of these tests could increase the performance for the detection of primary or recurrent BC. For this purpose, we bring together an international group of experts who will collaborate to comprehensively assess the robustness of these biomarkers and their applicability worldwide in order to provide sufficient evidence towards the clinical implementation of these tests for the non-invasive detection of BC.