diagnosis of bladder cancer by urinating at home...Up to early cancer.

[Anchor]
If bladder cancer is detected early, the cure rate exceeds 90%, but if you miss the right time, you have to transplant an artificial bladder or kick a urine bag, causing great inconvenience to patients.

Korean researchers have developed a new diagnostic technology that can diagnose early bladder cancer, which was difficult to diagnose with conventional urine tests.

This is reporter Lee Sung-kyu.

[Reporter]
It is a kit for early diagnosis of bladder cancer developed by domestic researchers.

Place the patient's urine sample in a small container of the diagnostic kit and add oil.

After that, 30 minutes after putting the sample in a small optical device, I took a picture of the sample container with a smartphone.

Then, in the urine of bladder cancer patients, the fluorescent material in the lower water layer rises to the upper oil layer.

On the other hand, in the urine of normal people, fluorescent substances remain in the water layer below.

The key lies in hydrogel films that are broken down by specific enzymes, which are biomarkers of bladder cancer.

When a specific enzyme in the urine of bladder cancer patients breaks down the hydrogel film, the fluorescent substance that floats in the water in the film comes up to the oil layer.

There is still a bladder cancer diagnosis kit for urine, but it is difficult to diagnose early bladder cancer.

This is because the amount of biomarkers that label bladder cancer in urine is too small, and impurities such as hematuria, the main symptom of bladder cancer, interfere with diagnosis.

The researchers solved this problem by using the property of separating oil and water.

[Jeong Young-do / KIST Lead researcher: We use a double layer called the water layer and the oil layer, and things like impurities remain in the water layer, which is urine. We have developed a technology that can only emit signal materials cleanly in the oil layer.

[Reporter]
He also explained that certain enzymes, which are biological indicators of bladder cancer, can amplify fluorescence signals through repeated reactions, so it can be diagnosed even in trace amounts.

As a result of a clinical trial conducted with Korea University Medical School, the researchers obtained a positive result of 88 percent diagnostic accuracy.

Next year, we plan to start a bio venture and commercialize an early diagnosis kit for bladder cancer for urine.

I'm Lee Sung Kyu of YTN Science.