Improving urine-based cancer cell cultures to monitor bladder cancer treatment and recurrence
Evaluation of Pre-Analytical Factors of Urine Samples for Urine Cancer Cell Cultures (UCCC) --A Non-Invasive Biomarker – in Monitoring Response and Recurrence of Bladder Cancer
This project tests whether collecting and handling urine the right way lets doctors grow bladder cancer cells from urine to help monitor treatment response and catch recurrence for people with bladder cancer.
Quick facts
| Grant type | U01 cooperative agreement |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | Ohio State University NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (Columbus, UNITED STATES) |
| Project ID | NIH-11172635 on NIH RePORTER |
What this research studies
If you have or had bladder cancer, researchers will use a method called conditional reprogramming to grow cancer cells from your urine as a non-invasive biomarker. The team will study how collection, storage, and transport of urine affect the success and reliability of these urine cancer cell cultures (UCCC). Labs that already create UCCCs will work with clinics to standardize procedures so results are reproducible across centers. The goal is to make the urine test dependable enough to use alongside or instead of frequent cystoscopies and to help predict which therapies will work for individual patients.
Who could benefit from this research
Good fit: Ideal candidates are people with a history of bladder cancer who are under surveillance for recurrence or are receiving chemotherapy or targeted therapy.
Not a fit: People without bladder cancer or whose tumors do not shed detectable cells into urine may not benefit from urine-based culture testing.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, this could reduce the need for frequent cystoscopies and provide a living urine-based biomarker that helps detect recurrence and guide treatment choices.
How similar studies have performed: Related work using conditional reprogramming has produced urine-derived cancer cultures with high success rates and several centers are now validating the approach in clinical settings.
Where this research is happening
Columbus, UNITED STATES
- Ohio State University — Columbus, United States (Active)
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Liu, Xuefeng — Ohio State University
- Study coordinator: Liu, Xuefeng
About this research
- This is an active NIH-funded research project — typically early-stage science, not a clinical trial accepting patient enrollment.
- Some NIH-funded labs run parallel clinical studies or seek volunteers for related work. To check, contact the principal investigator or institution listed above.
- For full project details, budget, and progress reports, visit the official NIH RePORTER page below.