Urine cell-free RNA for bladder cancer detection and treatment response prediction.

Urine cfRNA profiling with uRARE-seq achieves 95% sensitivity and 90% specificity for detecting localized bladder cancer, outperforming urine tumor DNA analysis.

• Why it matters: Noninvasive detection and molecular characterization of genitourinary cancers are limited by current methods, creating a need for more accurate, accessible biomarkers to improve diagnosis and treatment monitoring.
• What they did: The study developed uRARE-seq, a liquid biopsy technique analyzing urine cfRNA from 683 samples, identifying tumor-derived transcripts, immune signatures, and predicting treatment responses with high accuracy.
• The result: This approach enables sensitive detection of residual disease, distinguishes treatment responses, and predicts therapy outcomes, paving the way for improved personalized management of bladder and other urologic cancers.