The duo studied urine samples from 76 individuals – 42 with kidney cancer, 15 who had no cancer but were to undergo abdominal surgery and 19 healthy patients – and found elevated levels of aquaporin-1 (AQP1) and adipophilin (ADFP) in the urine samples from kidney cancer patients. The levels were normal in the other candidates.
The presence of a pair of proteins in urine could lead to an earlier and more accurate diagnosis of kidney cancer according to researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St Louis .