New filed patent to predict the response of patients with bladder cancer treatment

The research group led by Dr Mar Valés-Gómez at the National Center for Biotechnology (CNB-CSIC), has filed at the Spanish Patent and Trademark Office a new patent application for a method which predicts and monitors the therapeutic response of bladder cancer patients to anti-cancer immunotherapy based on the intravesical administration of Bacille Calmette-Guérin (a very common treatment for this condition).

This new method has been developed together with scientists from the Hospital Infanta Sofía (Madrid) and the National Institute for Biological Standards and Control (NIBSC) from UK.

The method consist in a urine analysis and in is simpler, more reliable, and less invasive than other alternative methods. It is useful for predicting bladder cancer recurrence following treatment before new tumor cells are released to the urine, allowing early selection of patients for alternative anti-cancer therapies.

More information here.

Image: Cells at the confocal microcope Laboratory of Mar Valés