urine

In recent years, the research group at UCIBIO - Laboratory of Toxicology, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Porto - has focused on studying metabolic reprogramming in urological cancers to identify potential biomarkers with different clinical applications, including diagnosis, prognosis, and response to treatment. The most recent study aimed to characterise the metabolic signature of renal cell carcinoma (RCC) by analysing the metabolome of renal tumour and adjacent non-tumour tissues, as well as urine samples collected from the same patients.

The lack of a sensitive and specific biomarker for early detection of prostate cancer (PCa) is a major obstacle to the effective treatment of these patients. This study aimed to study the volatile urinary metabolic profile of PCa patients (n=58) and control individuals (cancer-free, n=60), to identify a potential panel of biomarkers for non-invasive PCa detection. The results obtained revealed a panel of biomarkers with 6 volatile compounds, which was able to identify this type of cancer with a sensitivity, specificity and accuracy of 89%, 83% and 86%, respectively.

A falta de um biomarcardor sensível e específico para a deteção precoce do cancro da próstata constitui um obstáculo ao tratamento eficaz destes doentes. Este trabalho pretendeu estudar o perfil metabólico volátil de urinas de doentes com cancro da próstata (n=58) e de indivíduos controlo (sem cancro, n=60), com o objetivo de identificar um potencial painel de biomarcadores para a deteção não invasiva do cancro da próstata.