Hailed as a “breakthrough,” the test can now be used on a urine sample from people with Lynch syndrome to identify difficult to detect cancers in the urinary tract—which includes kidney, bladder and ureter—before any symptoms are apparent. The work is published in the journal eBioMedicine.

‘Exciting breakthrough’

Cancer of the urinary tract is one of the most common in people affected by the genetic condition, and without early detection treatment is less likely to be successful.

The test has been designed by a team from Newcastle University and Newcastle Hospitals, led by professor of clinical genetics, Sir John Burn. He said, “This is a really exciting breakthrough—the pilot study results are unprecedented. In our study, the test detected early-stage cancer in five people, four of those hadn’t yet showed any symptoms.