Scientists could be on the verge of a medical breakthrough in understanding what’s driving higher cases of bladder cancer in men.
Research has long suggested that the condition, which strikes over 10,000 Britons every year, is up to four times more common among men.
But now, Spanish and US scientists have discovered male bladder cells are more prone to selective growth of risky mutations before the disease even develops.
The scientists, who analysed dozens of bladder samples, found mutations in cancer-related genes in men that had an ‘evolutionary advantage’ — making groups of cells more likely to duplicate.
Experts today, who labelled the findings important, claimed it could pave the way for early detection tools to identify the cancer at its earliest stages.
However, they acknowledged further research was vital to explain why certain mutations were more likely to duplicate.
Dr López-Bigas, a biologist at the Institute for Research in Biomedicine in Barcelona and study co-author, said: ‘Healthy tissues accumulate many mutations throughout life.
‘But what matters is not only how many there are, but which ones manage to outgrow the others and expand into clones, which are copies of the same cell carrying the same mutations.
In the study, researchers analysed bladder samples from 45 patient donors. They used a highly sensitive sequencing method capable of detecting rare mutations that standard genomic tools miss
‘We have seen that biological sex directly influence this process.’
Dr Abel González-Pérez, a cancer science research associate at the Institute for Research in Biomedicine and study co-author, added: ‘This is the first time we’ve directly observed such effects in healthy bladder tissue rather than in tumors.
‘It shows that the earliest stages of cancer development are already influenced by sex-specific factors.’
In the study, researchers analysed bladder samples from 45 patient donors.
They used a highly sensitive sequencing method capable of detecting rare mutations that standard genomic tools miss.
They found certain mutations were far more likely in male bladder samples.
It was the first time such effects have been observed directly in healthy bladder tissue, rather than in tumors, shedding light on the earliest stages of cancer development, they said.
Writing in the journal Nature, they added: ‘Importantly, mutations in RBM10 and CDKN1A are also significantly more abundant in bladder cancers of men than of women.’
Prominent figures who have had bladder cancer include singer Frank Sinatra, actor James Lipton, and British artist Tracey Emin (pictured)
Dr González-Pérez, also said: ‘This study is only the tip of the iceberg. We analysed 16 genes in the bladders of 45 people, yet we already found important differences.
‘The same approach can be applied to other tissues and risk factors.’
But researchers also saw a striking effect among samples of donors who had previously smoked.
Among donors over the age of 55, those with a history of smoking carried a high frequency of mutations in the TERT promoter, a DNA element that allows cells to avoid aging and continue dividing.
Bladder cancer is the 11th most common cancer in the UK, and the 7th most common cancer in men.
Prominent figures who have had bladder cancer include singer Frank Sinatra, actor James Lipton, and British artist Tracey Emin.
Roughly with 80 per cent of cases diagnosed every year are in over 65s.
As well as blood in urine, bladder cancer symptoms include more frequent and painful urination, unexplained weight loss, fatigue, incontinence and abdominal pain.
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