UroCAD for Hematuria Evaluation--A Prospective, Multi-center Study

Overview

Hematuria is recognized as an important sigh of potential urinary tract malignancy. Therefore, understanding the disease processes and discovering the potential urothelial carcinoma (UC) underlying this important sign is critical. Cystoscopy, urine cytology and imaging are most reliable methods for UC diagnosis, but certain drawbacks exist for these methods, such as invasiveness or inaccuracy. Chromosomal instability (CIN) is a hallmark of human cancer, and it's related with tumor stage and grade. Previous research has proved that analyzing CIN of the DNA extracted from urothelial cells in urine samples seems a promising method for detecting UC. Here we intend to assess CIN's performance for hematuria evaluation.

Hematuria is defined as the presence of 3 or more red blood cells per high-power field (RBC/HPF) under microscopic examination of the urine, which is an important sigh of genitourinary system disease, especially UC. Several methods can be adopted for hematuria evaluation. Cystoscopy is a key component of the hematuria evaluation because it is a reliable way to evaluate the bladder and urethra. Biopsy can also be performed through cystoscopy, making it the "gold standard" for bladder cancer diagnosis. Despite its high reliability and accuracy, it's an invasive examination related with complications such as injury to the urethra, infection, and discomfort. Flat lesions may also be omitted under cystoscopy. Urine cytology is another important method for UC evaluation, but it has a sensitivity of only 15.8%-54.5%. CIN refers to the ongoing acquisition of genomic alterations, it can range from point mutations to small-scale genomic alterations and gross chromosomal rearrangements. 60%-80% of human tumors exhibit chromosomal abnormalities suggestive of CIN. CIN is presented in UC and it has been adopted as a diagnostic method for UC, such as UroVysion test. Previously, CIN detected by low-coverage whole genome sequencing proved to be a reliable method for UC diagnosis and was named as Urine Exfoliated Cells Copy Number Aberration Detector (UroCAD). In this prospective, multi-canter, observational clinical trial, we intend to assess the possibility of UroCAD as an additional diagnostic tool for hematuria patients by collecting and analyzing 30 ml of urine sample from hematuria patient across 5 centers.