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Bladder cancer (BCa) is the most common cancer of the urinary system. Due to its high incidence and recurrence, as well as limited progress in the effective treatment, BCa is a challenge for today's medicine. We used a set of chromogenic substrates to differentiate between the stages of bladder cancer progression (G1 (n = 10), G2 (n = 10), G3 (n = 10)). The proteolytic activity in individual the urine samples was determined by absorbance measurements. Then inhibitors of particular classes of enzymes were used to determine which enzymes dominate at a given stage of the neoplastic disease. The specific activity of enzymes in the urine of patients with confirmed bladder cancer was determined separately for three (G1, G2, G3) stages of the disease development. What is more, no activity was observed in urine of healthy people (n = 10). Research shows that specific enzymes are associated with the development of specific stages of cancer. We suspect that the differences in the proteolytic activity of urine samples are due to the presence of a different set of enzymes that are directly related to the particular stage of the disease. We obtained three substrates for monitoring individual stages of bladder cancer development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cancer development and progression is often associated with inflammation. Late diagnosis of inflammation that directly leads to the development of neoplasm—cancer is associated with a reduction in the chance of successful treatment or is associated with therapeutic difficulties. A panel of chromogenic substrates was used for the qualitative determination of the specific activity of enzymes in urine of patients with confirmed inflammatory reaction and/or epithelial neoplasms in particular tumours at various stages of development. Urine of people with excluded inflammation was used as a control group. Proteolytic activity was determined in urine samples collected from patients with epithelial neoplasms and/or inflammation. What is more, we determine human neutrophil elastase activity-related inflammation based on the examination of urine samples. We suspect that the proteolytical activity of urine samples is due to neutrophil response to inflammation, which is directly related to cancer. This is the first study to determine elastolytic activity in bladder cancer urine samples. It supports wider use of urine for inflammation screening. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]