A urine test could reveal early-stage prostate cancer: How does it work?

Prostate cancer is one of the most common tumors in men worldwide, and early detection remains a key challenge for improving prognosis and reducing unnecessary interventions. Recent research offers a significant breakthrough: a simple urine test could identify the disease in its early stages . Below are the details of this finding.

Early detection of prostate cancer remains a priority in male oncology. Current methods, based on prostate-specific antigen (PSA) in blood, have sensitivity and specificity limitations that can lead to false positives and unnecessary biopsies. Therefore, the development of more precise and less invasive techniques is essential.

A study led by the Karolinska Institute (Sweden), with the participation of Imperial College London (UK) and the Xiyuan Hospital of the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences in Beijing (China), has identified new biomarkers that could revolutionize diagnosis . The results are published in the journal Cancer Research.

The researchers analyzed the mRNA activity of all human genes in thousands of individual prostate tumor cells, recording the position and degree of cancer in each cell. With this data, they built digital models capable of reproducing the complexity of the tumor at its different stages.

“The models were analyzed using AI to identify proteins that could be used as biomarkers. These biomarkers were then analyzed in the blood, prostate tissue, and urine of nearly 2,000 patients.” Thanks to this approach, molecular patterns that elude conventional testing were detected.

“Urine biomarker measurement offers many advantages,” explains Mikael Benson, senior researcher at the Department of Clinical Sciences, Intervention and Technology at Karolinska Institutet. “It is a noninvasive and painless method, and can potentially be performed at home. The sample can then be analyzed using routine methods in clinical laboratories.”

According to the team's calculations, the new urinary biomarkers are more accurate than PSA, the current standard for blood tests. This would allow for more reliable distinctions between aggressive tumors and benign lesions, optimizing clinical decisions and avoiding invasive testing when unnecessary.

To validate these findings, large clinical trials are planned. One of these is being discussed with Professor Rakesh Heer of Imperial College London, co-author of the study and director of TRANSFORM, the UK national prostate cancer study, which offers a platform to streamline the analysis of promising biomarkers.

“New biomarkers that are more accurate than PSA may lead to earlier diagnosis and a better prognosis for men with prostate cancer,” Benson says. “Furthermore, they may reduce the number of unnecessary prostate biopsies in healthy men,” he concludes.

Before clinical application, it will be necessary to confirm the reproducibility of results in diverse populations, standardize urine collection and analysis protocols, and obtain approval from regulatory agencies. These steps will define the path toward a routine home screening test.

The ability to diagnose prostate cancer with a simple urine sample opens the door to more convenient and widespread screening programs. If clinical trials confirm its effectiveness, this test could become a key tool for men's public health , improving early detection and, ultimately, survival.

*This content was rewritten with the assistance of artificial intelligence, based on information from Europa Press, and reviewed by the journalist and an editor.