Testing RNA in urine is expected to diagnose prostate cancer

According to the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center, the center has developed a non-invasive liquid biopsy test that can detect prostate cancer by RNA and other specific metabolic chemicals in the urine. The study was published recently in the journal Nature Scientific Reports.Using RNA depth sequencing and mass spectrometry, the researchers tested 126 patients and healthy people and found a previously unknown combination of RNA by-products, or metabolites. The tests included 64 prostate cancer patients, 31 benign prostate hyperplies and prostatitis patients, and 31 healthy individuals with neither symptom. RNA alone is not enough to clearly identify cancer, but adding a set of disease-related metabolites can clearly distinguish cancer patients from other disease patients and healthy individuals.But the researchers stress that this non-invasive liquid biopsy test is also a validation study of the principle of urine testing, which must be validated by larger physical sample studies before it can be put into clinical use."Non-invasive prostate cancer urine testing will be an important step in cancer diagnosis," said Rajan Piera, director of the Center for KERC Biology at Johns Hopkins Orr Children's Hospital. Previous tissue biopsies were invasive tests that caused pain to patients and often did not work well. "(Science and Technology Daily)