Bladder Cancer Specimens
Bladder Cancer Overview
Bladder cancer begins in the cells of the bladder. Specifically, the bladder (urinary bladder) is a hollow muscular organ in the lower part of the abdomen that stores urine. Additionally, bladder cancer most often begins in the urothelial cells that line the inside of the bladder.
Moreover, urothelial cells are also found in the kidneys and the tubes or ureters that connect the kidneys to the bladder. Although urothelial cancer can occur in the kidneys and ureters, too, it is important to note that it’s more common in the bladder.
According to the National Institute of Health, healthcare providers diagnose approximately 60,000 men, 18,000 women per year with the disease. Fortunately, most doctors diagnose bladder cancers at an early stage, when the cancer is highly treatable.
However, even early-stage bladder cancers can come back after successful treatment. For this reason, people with bladder cancer typically need follow-up tests for years after treatment to look for bladder cancer that recurs.
In terms of bladder cancer signs and symptoms, these may include blood in urine (hematuria), which can make urine appear bright red or brownish. However, sometimes the urine appears normal and lab tests detect blood. Furthermore, symptoms may also include frequent urination, painful urination, and back pain back pain.
Bladder cancer begins when cells in the bladder develop changes (mutations) in their DNA. Specifically, a cell’s DNA contains instructions that tell the cell what to do. Consequently, the changes tell the cell to multiply rapidly and to go on living when healthy cells would die.
As a result, the abnormal cells form a tumor that can invade and destroy normal body tissue. Ultimately, in time, the abnormal cells can break away and spread or metastasize through the body.
Types
Following are three types of bladder cancer:
Transitional Cell Carcinoma
Firstly, transitional cell carcinoma is the most common type of bladder cancer. It begins in the transitional cells in the inner layer of the bladder. Moreover, transitional cells are cells that change shape without becoming damaged when the tissue is stretched.
Squamous Cell Carcinoma
On the other hand, squamous cell carcinoma is a rare cancer in the United States. It begins when thin, flat squamous cells form in the bladder after a long-term infection or irritation in the bladder.
Adenocarcinoma
Similarly, adenocarcinoma is also a rare cancer in the United States. It begins when long-term bladder irritation and inflammation cause glandular cells to form in the bladder. In fact, glandular cells are what make up the mucus-secreting glands in the body.
Types of Bladder Cancer
Following are three types of bladder cancer:
Transitional Cell Carcinoma
Firstly, transitional cell carcinoma is the most common type of bladder cancer. It begins in the transitional cells in the inner layer of the bladder. Moreover, transitional cells are cells that change shape without becoming damaged when the tissue is stretched.
Squamous Cell carcinoma
Squamous cell carcinoma is a rare cancer in the United States. It begins when thin, flat squamous cells form in the bladder after a long-term infection or irritation in the bladder.
Adenocarcinoma
On the other hand, squamous cell carcinoma is a rare cancer in the United States. It begins when thin, flat squamous cells form in the bladder after a long-term infection or irritation in the bladder.
Signs and Symptoms of Bladder Cancer
Most often, a doctor diagnoses bladder cancer after a patient reports blood in the urine, also called hematuria.
Additionally, patients with bladder cancer may experience the following signs and symptoms:
- Firstly, abdominal pain
- Secondly, blood or blood clots in the urine
- Thirdly, pain or burning sensation during urination
- Moreover, frequent urination
- Furthermore, feeling the need to urinate many times throughout the night
- In addition, feeling the need to urinate, but not being able to pass urine
- Likewise, lower back pain on 1 side of the body
- Pelvic pain
Causes of Bladder Cancer
On the other hand, the exact cause of bladder cancer is unknown. It occurs when abnormal cells grow and multiply quickly and uncontrollably, and, consequently, invade other tissues. Moreover, certain changes in the DNA inside normal bladder cells can make them grow abnormally and form cancers.
Furthermore, researchers think that acquired changes in certain genes, such as the TP53 or RB1 tumor suppressor genes and the FGFR and RAS oncogenes, are important in the development of some bladder cancers.
Smoking is the most important risk factor for bladder cancer. Other risk factors include:
- Firstly, having a family history of bladder cancer
- Secondly, having certain gene mutations (unusual genetic changes made when your body’s cells are dividing)
- Thirdly, exposure to too much of certain workplace chemicals used in aluminum production, rubber
industry, leather industry, 4-aminobiphenyl, benzidine such as used in processing paint, dye, metal, and petroleum products can cause bladder cancer. - Moreover, taking certain kinds of chemotherapy drugs
- Furthermore, drinking well water contaminated with arsenic
- In addition, taking the Chinese herb Aristolochia fangchi
- Finally, Having chronic urinary tract infections (UTIs) including caused by Schistosoma haematobium which causes human schistosomiasis leading to infections.
Bladder Cancer Risk Factors
The following factors may raise a person’s risk of developing bladder cancer:
- Smoking
- Age
- Gender
- Race
- Chemicals
- Chronic Bladder Problems
- Chemotherapy (cyclophosphamide)
- Lynch syndrome
- Arsenic exposure
- Schistosomiasis
Bladder Cancer Diagnosis
Most doctors diagnose most patients with bladder cancer once they develop symptoms; therefore, some doctors find that patients have more advanced (later stage) disease when they detect the cancer. Nevertheless, most doctors usually diagnose patients with noninvasive bladder cancer.
Most often, doctors diagnose bladder cancer after the patient reports blood in the urine, also called hematuria. Specifically, “gross hematuria” means that enough blood is present in the urine that the patient can see it. Additionally, it is also possible that small amounts of blood exist in the urine that cannot be seen. This is referred to as “microscopic hematuria,” and it can only be found with a urine test.
Furthermore, general urine tests do not make a specific diagnosis of bladder cancer because hematuria can be a sign of several other conditions that are not cancer, such as infections or kidney stones. However, a specific type of urine test screens for the presence of cancer cells in the urine.
Consequently, the following tests may diagnose and provide more information about bladder cancer:
- Urine tests
- Cystoscopy
- Biopsy – Transurethral resection of bladder tumor (TURBT)
- Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)
- Computed tomography (CT or CAT) scan
- Positron emission tomography (PET) or PET-CT scan
- Ultrasound
Biospecimens
Bay Biosciences is a global leader in providing researchers with high quality, clinical grade, fully characterized human tissue samples, bio-specimens, and human bio-fluid collections.
Moreover, human biospecimens are available including tumor tissue, serum, plasma and PBMC samples from most other therapeutic areas.
Furthermore, Bay Biosciences maintains and manages its own biorepository, the human tissue bank (biobank) consisting of thousands of diseased samples (specimens) and likewise normal healthy donors for controls. Additionally, available in all formats and types.
In fact, our biobank procures and stores fully consented, de-identified and institutional review boards (IRB) approved human tissue samples, human biofluids such as serum samples, plasma samples from various diseases and matched controls.
Also, all our human tissue collections, human biospecimens and human biofluids are provided with detailed, samples associated patient’s clinical data.
In fact, this critical patient’s clinical data includes information relating to their past and current disease, treatment history, lifestyle choices, biomarkers, and genetic information.
Additionally, researchers find the patient’s data associated with the human biospecimens extremely valuable and use it to help identify new effective treatments (drug discovery & development) in oncology, as well as in other therapeutic areas and diseases.
Bay Biosciences banks wide variety of human tissue samples and human biological samples, including fresh frozen human biospecimens cryogenically preserved at – 80°C.
For example fresh frozen tissue samples, tumor tissue samples, formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded (FFPE), tissue slides, with matching human bio-fluids, whole blood and blood-derived products such as human serum, human plasma and human PBMCs.
Bay Biosciences is a global leader in collecting and providing human tissue samples according to the specified requirements and customized, tailor-made collection protocols.
Please contact us anytime to discuss your special research projects and customized human tissue sample requirements.
Types of Biospecimens
Bay Biosciences provides human tissue samples (human specimens) and human biofluids from diseased and normal healthy donors which includes:
- Peripheral whole-blood
- Amniotic fluid
- Bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BAL)
- Sputum
- Pleural effusion
- Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF)
- Serum (sera)
- Plasma
- Peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC)
- Saliva
- Buffy coat
- Urine
- Stool samples
- Aqueous humor
- Vitreous humor
- Kidney stones (renal calculi)
- Other bodily fluids from most diseases including cancer.
Moreover, we can also procure most human biospecimens and human biofluids, special collections and requests for human samples that are difficult to find. All our human tissue samples and human biofluids are procured through IRB-approved clinical protocols and procedures.
In addition to the standard processing protocols, Bay Biosciences can also provide human biofluids such as human plasma, human serum, and human PBMCs bio-fluid samples using custom processing protocols; you buy donor-specific collections in higher volumes and specified sample aliquots from us.
Bay Biosciences also provides human biospecimens from normal healthy donors; volunteers, for controls and clinical research, Contact us Now.
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