Humans May Benefit from Canine Bladder Cancer Assay

A unique group of proteins have been identified that indicate the presence of transitional cell carcinoma, the most common cause of bladder cancer and may lead to a new assay which could better diagnose this disease in both dogs and humans.

An improved assay to detect this serious disease much earlier in both animals and humans should be possible, and may even become affordable enough that it could be used as an over-the-counter product to test urine.


Scientists at Oregon State University (Corvallis, OR, USA) analyzed the canine urinary proteome as a noninvasive diagnostic tool for transitional cell carcinoma (TCC) identification. Urine was collected from 12 dogs in three cohorts (healthy, urinary tract infection, TCC) and analyzed using liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (LC–MS/MS).

Peptide sample were analyzed using a linear ion trap combined with a Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance (LTQ-FT) mass spectrometer (Thermo Scientific; Waltham, MA, USA) coupled to a nanoAcquity Ultra Performance Liquid Chromatography (UPLC) system (Waters, Milford, MA, USA). The scientists also performed immunoblots on a cellular fractions and polymerase chain reaction for detection of bacterial infections.

The team used the science of proteomics to identify 96 proteins that appear related to transitional cell carcinoma. This is a fairly common cancer in dogs, often as a result of exposure to pesticides, herbicides, and poor quality foods; and in humans is closely related to smoking. The presence of four proteins, macrophage capping protein, peroxiredoxin 5, heterogeneous nuclear ribonucleoproteins A2/B, and apolipoprotein A1, was confirmed via immunoblotting. The groups of proteins identified in the study were 90% accurate in diagnosing cancer, and investigators say they hope to improve upon that with continued studies.

The authors concluded that their novel approach to biomarker discovery can be applied to studies in humans to determine whether the same biomarkers can predict TCC in humans and dogs, and if not, which biomarkers are unique to urine from human TCC patients. The study was published in the June 2014 issue of the journal Analytical Biochemistry.

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