PROVIDENCE – Brown University researcher Carmen Marsit has developed a blood test that can accurately detect biomolecular markers of bladder cancer that risky exposures may have left behind.
The results of the work done by a research team Marsit led, which was published Feb. 22 in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, measure a pattern of “methylation,” a chemical alteration to DNA that affects the way in which genes are expressed in cells.
“What we are studying are the changes to the way that the genes are controlled, the way in which those genes that are encoded are turned on and off,” Marsit told the Providence Business News. “You can track what a person’s risk for the disease [of bladder cancer] is.”
Marsit said that his blood test is probably not ready for widespread screening, but would be best applied to high-risk populations – people older 50, heavy smokers and people who worked in the printing industry with dyes and inks or people who worked the metal-plating industry.
Marsit’s work has important relevance for Rhode Island: the state has the greatest incidence of bladder cancer in the nation – 53 cases per 100,000 compared to 37 per 100,000 in the United States for men and, for women, 13 cases per 100,000 compared to 9.4 cases nationally, according to a 2009 study looking at the four-year period between 2002-2006.
Determining the reasons why Rhode Island has such a high incidence of bladder cancer will hopefully be the focus of Marsit’s next study; he has applied to the National Cancer Institute for funding.
Along with exposure to toxic chemicals, arsenic exposure in drinking water is considered a strong potential risk for bladder cancer and Marsit’s research has focused in part on populations in New Hampshire with well-water supplies.
Another focus of Marsit’s work is the how second-hand smoke may lead to diseases such as bladder cancer. Part of Marsit’s work was funded by the Flight Attendants Medical Research Institute, set up as part of a settlement in a lawsuit against the tobacco industry.
“Bladder cancer is a smoke exposure-related disease,” he said. “There are a number of studies that have started to link second-hand smoke and bladder cancer.”
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