New Challenges in Bladder Cancer Diagnosis - How Biosensing Tools Can Lead to Population Screening Opportunities

Sep 22, 2026

Bladder cancer is a highly prevalent malignancy in which diagnosis currently relies on invasive cystoscopy with low sensitivity, leading to frequent late detection after hematuria and limiting population-level screening. Genetic-assessment–based tools are promising, but population genetic differences hinder universal marker evaluation. Research therefore targets universal urine biomarkers to enable a non-invasive, rapid, accurate test for early diagnosis and follow-up. Biosensing devices could transform patient management by reducing mortality and easing health-system burdens, with main challenges and future perspectives discussed for selecting highly sensitive biomarkers.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryHealthcare

FormatPDF

Pages14

Reading Time35 min

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Abstract

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1. Introduction

Perspective New Challenges in Bladder Cancer Diagnosis: How Biosensing Tools Can Lead to Population Screening Opportunities Fabiana Tortora 1, Antonella Guastaferro 1, Simona Barbato 1, Ferdinando Febbraio 2, * and Amelia Cimmino 1 Citation: Tortora, F.; Guastaferro, A.; Barbato, S.; Febbraio, F.; Cimmino, A. New Challenges in Bladder Cancer Diagnosis: How Biosensing Tools Can Lead to Population Screening Opportunities. Sensors 2024, 24, 7873 . [https://doi.org/10.3390/s24247873](https://doi.org/10.3390/s24247873) Academic Editors: Alexander Star, Spyridon Kintzios and Patrick Wagner Received: 15 November 2024 Revised: 5 December 2024 Accepted: 7 December 2024 Published: 10 December 2024 Copyright: © 2024 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license ([https://](https://)[ ](https://)[creativecommons.org/licenses/by/](creativecommons.org/licenses/by/)[ ](creativecommons.org/licenses/by/)[4.0/](4.0/)) . 1 Institute of Genetics and Biophysics “A. Buzzati Traverso”, National Research Council (CNR), 80131 Naples, Italy; [fabiana.tortora@igb.cnr.it](fabiana.tortora@igb.cnr.it) (F.T.); [antonella.guastaferro@igb.cnr.it](antonella.guastaferro@igb.cnr.it) (A.G.); [simona.barbato@igb.cnr.it](simona.barbato@igb.cnr.it) (S.B.); [amelia.cimmino@igb.cnr.it](amelia.cimmino@igb.cnr.it) (A.C.) 2 Institute of Biochemistry and Cell Biology, National Research Council (CNR), 80131 Naples, Italy * Correspondence: [ferdinando.febbraio@cnr.it](ferdinando.febbraio@cnr.it); Tel.: +39-081-6132-611 Abstract: Bladder cancer is one of the most common cancers worldwide. Despite its high incidence, cystoscopy remains the currently used diagnostic gold standard, although it is invasive, expensive and has low sensitivity. As a result, the cancer diagnosis is mostly late, as it occurs following the presence of hematuria in urine, and population screening is not allowed. It would therefore be desirable to be able to act promptly in the early stage of the disease with the aid of biosensing. The use of devices/tools based on genetic assessments would be of great help in this field. However, the genetic differences between populations do not allow accurate analysis in the context of population screening. Current research is directed towards the discovery of universal biomarkers present in urine with the aim of providing an approach based on a non-invasive, easy-to-perform, rapid, and accurate test that can be widely used in clinical practice for the early diagnosis and follow-up of bladder cancer. An efficient biosensing device may have a disruptive impact in terms of patient health and disease management, contributing to a decrease in mortality rate, as well as easing the social and economic burden on the national healthcare system. Considering the advantage of accessing population screening for early diagnosis of cancer, the main challenges and future perspectives are critically discussed to address the research towards the selection of suitable biomarkers for the development of a very sensitive biosensor for bladder cancer. Keywords: bladder cancer diagnosis; population screening; biomarkers; lncRNA 1. Introduction Bladder cancer (BlCa) remains the most common malignancy of the urinary tract and the 9th most common cancer worldwide. Its incidence is higher in men (6th most common cancer) than in women (17th most common cancer) . In 2020, more than 500,000 people were diagnosed with BlCa worldwide, and more than 200,000 individuals died from the disease [1]; these numbers rose in 2022 to more than 600,000 and 220,000, respectively [2] . Although the age-standardized incidence rate (ASIR) varies widely across geographic regions, it is expected to continue to increase over the next decade [3], while the agestandardized mortality rate (ASMR) has begun to decline in developed countries and increa

FAQs

Why is current bladder cancer diagnosis challenging for early detection and screening?

Cystoscopy is invasive, costly, and has low sensitivity, so diagnosis is often delayed until hematuria appears. This has limited the feasibility of population screening programs.

What role do biosensing tools play in addressing bladder cancer diagnosis gaps?

Biosensing approaches, especially those based on genetic or molecular assessment, could support prompt action in early disease stages. An effective biosensing device could improve health outcomes and management.

Why is finding biomarkers for population screening a major challenge?

Genetic differences between populations prevent fully accurate analysis for universal screening. The research focus is on discovering biomarkers that are present across populations in urine to enable non-invasive testing.

Sep 22, 2026

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