Assessment of a urine test for detecting cancer
Research type
Research Study
Full title
The validity of urinary engrailed-2 (EN2) for the diagnosis of clinically significant cancer.
IRAS ID
369782
Contact name
Agnieszka Michael
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Surrey, Assurance
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 2 months, 31 days
Research summary
Many bladder and prostate cancers are curable if found early and some can even just be monitored without needing any treatment for many years. There is therefore a need to improve the early detection of cancer both for initial diagnosis as well as monitoring for progression or reoccurrence. In the case of prostate cancer there is also the need to improve the ability to distinguish tumours that require urgent treatment from those which can just be monitored.
In this study we propose to use a new test development by Advanced Material Development to measure Engrailed 2 (EN2), a protein that has previously been shown to be released by both bladder and prostate cancer cells but not non-cancer cells into the urine. The new test uses very small magnetic beads that ‘fish-out’ any EN2 in the urine and then the amount is measured using a solution that changes from clear to blue if EN2 is present, with deeper blue meaning more EN2. This test has less background signal and is more reproducible than previous tests and we hope to show that EN2 levels in the urine can be used to detect bladder and prostate cancer. In the case of prostate cancer, we also hope that the EN2 test may help to decide between large cancers that need urgent treatment versus smaller cancers which do not require any treatment.REC name
Wales REC 3
REC reference
26/WA/0156
Date of REC Opinion
28 May 2026
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion