BroadcastMedJohns Hopkins Hepatologists Detect Liver Cancer in Urine Test

Johns Hopkins researchers develop breakthrough urine test for liver cancer, increasing early detection rates by supplementing traditional AFP testing.

A groundbreaking screening test for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), developed by Amy Kim, a hepatologist at Johns Hopkins, and her team, has demonstrated the potential to detect liver cancer at an earlier stage than the current standard-of-care. This novel diagnostic approach seeks to identify a subset of genetic biomarkers in urine associated with HCC, thereby supplementing the traditional combination of ultrasound and alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) blood testing. AFP tests have shown variable effectiveness with detection rates ranging between 40% and 90%, and a substantial number of liver cancer patients exhibit low AFP levels or misleadingly high levels due to liver disease, reducing the reliability of AFP as a singular biomarker.

The study, conducted in collaboration with the Baruch S. Blumberg Institute and published in the British Journal of Cancer in 2022, analyzed samples from over 600 patients at high risk for liver disease across five medical centers. Kim’s team demonstrated that the combined use of urine circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) testing and AFP increased detection sensitivity from 40% to 77% in early-stage liver cancer, and from 62% to 92% in the very early stage of disease. The study highlights the potential of this urine test as a more reliable, non-invasive, first-line screening tool, ideally suited for home use, which could significantly enhance patient compliance and early detection of HCC.