Bladder cancer research receives €4.5 million from the EU

The AMPLITUDE research consortium coordinated by Tampere University has received €4.5 million from the EU’s Horizon 2020 programme. The four-year project also involves eleven partners across Europe.

The AMPLITUDE project focuses on urological cancers, especially bladder cancer. It is the 11th most commonly diagnosed cancer worldwide with an incidence rate of 9.0 for men and 2.2 for women per 100,000 people annually. Bladder cancers have a high recurrence rate; in over half of the patients the disease recoccurs within five years of the initial diagnosis. Because of the risk of recurrence, patients must be constantly monitored.

“The present problems are related to diagnostics. None of the existing diagnostic techniques yields definite information on the progression of the disease. Especially if it has invaded muscle tissue, we cannot tell how deep the patient’s cancer has spread in the organs,” says Senior Research Fellow Regina Gumenyuk, coordinator of the AMPLITUDE project.

The study is developing and testing a new laser-based multimodal imaging technology, which utilises previously unavailable wavelengths in diagnosing cancer.  While making a diagnosis endoscopically, a doctor may use the new technology to gain a better understanding of the metastising and stage of the cancer.

“Bladder cancers are hard to diagnose. Clinicians are currently in a tough spot because they lack accurate information on the size of the tumour. Having such information is highly important because the different stages of the disease require different treatments,” Gumenyuk explains.

The role of Tampere University in this project is to develop the laser system with focus on the 3rd biological window that will be used in the study.

“Our study concentrates on bladder cancers, but this technology also has potential in the diagnostics of other cancers,” Gumenyuk says.

 

Inquiries: Regina Gumenyuk, tel. +358 40 198 1064, regina.gumenyuk [at] tuni.fi