Urine test detects bladder cancer in a 683-sample study

Researchers report in Nature Medicine on 2 October 2026 a urine test that profiles cell-free RNA fragments (uRARE-seq) for bladder cancer detection. In 683 urine samples from patients with cancer and controls, the method detected localised bladder cancer with 95% sensitivity at 90% specificity and outperformed urine tumour DNA analysis in the comparison presented; the RNA signal was also used to predict treatment response. The paper presents a research method, not an approved diagnostic test.