Experts Urge Enhanced Early Screening for 'New Two Cancers' Threatening Men's Health: Bladder and Prostate Cancer

Recently, VCBeat New Medicine (WeChat ID: biobeat1) learned that the Medical Immunodiagnosis Research Center of the Institute of Biophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, and the Mass Spectrometry Research Group of the School of Life Sciences, Tsinghua University, in collaboration with Guyu Society and the Council of the Urology Alliance, have jointly issued a public initiative calling on men to undergo screening for “two new cancers” (namely, bladder cancer and prostate cancer).

Social surveys and medical statistics both in China and abroad indicate that a growing number of diseases have been confirmed to pose serious threats to men’s physical and mental health. In January 2019, the National Cancer Center released the latest national cancer statistics: an estimated 3.929 million new cases of malignant tumors occurred nationwide in 2015, with approximately 2.151 million among males and 1.778 million among females. Among these, there were approximately 80,500 new cases of bladder cancer and about 32,900 deaths in China in 2015, ranking it first among malignant tumors of the urinary system.

Furthermore, in 2015, there were approximately 60,300 new cases and 26,600 deaths from prostate cancer in China, ranking it as the second most common malignant tumor of the urinary system. Undoubtedly, bladder cancer and prostate cancer have become the “two major killers” of the urinary system. We refer to them as the “New Two Cancers” to distinguish them from the “Two Cancers” in women (namely, breast cancer and cervical cancer).

According to statistics, approximately 75% to 85% of newly diagnosed bladder cancer cases in China are superficial bladder cancers, which are prone to recurrence and require repeated treatment. Invasive bladder cancers account for 15% to 25% of cases; they are prone to metastasis, involve significant postoperative trauma, and result in poor quality of life. Among all prostate cancer patients in China, only one-third have localized disease without metastasis, while two-thirds present with advanced-stage disease and existing metastases. These data highlight the severe current situation and concerning incidence trends of these two major cancers in China.

As society continues to advance and the pace of life accelerates, people’s physical and mental health are facing immense challenges. In China, influenced by traditional values, adult men are often regarded as the pillars of their families and the primary sources of both material and spiritual wealth. Consequently, most adult men, seen as the ultimate representatives of a family’s competitiveness and development potential, endure tremendous dual pressures from work and psychological stress. Even in the early stages of various diseases that do not significantly impair work performance, they often disregard their health and safety, persisting in their professional roles until they are overwhelmed by high-intensity workloads and worsening physical and mental illnesses, at which point they finally realize the severity of the situation. Surveys indicate that most male patients with the “new two cancers” in China only seek screening when their bodies exhibit relatively severe symptoms, by which time the optimal window for treatment has often passed, making therapeutic intervention extremely difficult.

In light of these challenges, given the year-on-year increase in bladder cancer incidence and its clinical characteristics—namely, a high propensity for recurrence and metastasis, necessitating long-term monitoring—an increasing number of urologists are urging men to actively participate in early screening for bladder cancer, as early detection enables timely treatment. Meanwhile, drawing on the experience of prostate cancer screening in Europe and the United States and considering the specific current status of prostate cancer diagnosis and treatment in China, more than 20 experts from the Prostate Cancer Group of the Professional Committee on Urological and Male Genitourinary Tumors of the China Anti-Cancer Association jointly formulated the “Expert Consensus on Prostate Cancer Screening” in 2017. This initiative aims to address the prevalent issue of late-stage diagnosis among Chinese patients with prostate cancer and to improve their prognosis.

Looking back over the past few decades, diagnostic methods for the “new two cancers” have advanced slowly. For bladder cancer, minimally invasive cystoscopy remains the “gold standard” for diagnosis; however, it often causes pain and psychological distress to patients, is costly, and is not easily accessible on a wide scale. Prostate-specific antigen (PSA) testing is widely used for early screening and monitoring of prostate cancer, but definitive diagnosis requires a biopsy in cases with abnormal results. Moreover, PSA exhibits specificity only to prostate tissue, not specifically to prostate cancer. This indicates that there is still considerable room for improvement in the diagnostic approaches for these “new two cancers.”

To further improve diagnostic methods for the “new two cancers,” enhance patient experience, and benefit a broader population, two research teams from the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Tsinghua University independently pursued technological innovation, each developing more precise detection methods tailored to the “new two cancers.”

A research team from the Center for Medical Immunodiagnostics at the Institute of Biophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), has developed a non-invasive urine-based detection technology for bladder cancer. This innovative achievement by the CAS Institute of Biophysics has been hailed by international peers as “a revolutionary breakthrough in the field of bladder cancer over the past 40 years.” The team has developed a series of bladder cancer test kits and, in collaboration with “Guyu She,” a professional online community for bladder cancer, provides simple, efficient, and precise non-invasive testing for early screening and postoperative monitoring of bladder cancer. Meanwhile, the Mass Spectrometry Research Group at the School of Life Sciences, Tsinghua University, has developed a highly sensitive mass spectrometry-based methodology for prostate cancer detection. They conducted analytical performance evaluations of the method and subsequently established a comprehensive liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS)-based technique for early urine screening of prostate cancer.

Furthermore, the Guyu Society Urology Alliance Council was jointly established by the Medical Immunodiagnosis Research Center of the Institute of Biophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, and the Guyu Society. Composed of relevant research institutions and frontline urology experts as council members, the alliance serves as a bridge between basic and clinical research in the field of urology. It is committed to providing broader, more precise, high-quality, cost-effective, and accessible medical services, which will undoubtedly benefit a wider range of patients with the “new two cancers.”

With the release of the Outline of the “Healthy China 2030” Plan, implementing the “Healthy China” strategy has become a fundamental national policy. The 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China further called for providing comprehensive, full-lifecycle health services to the public. Regarding breakthroughs in cancer prevention and control, this year’s Government Work Report introduced new approaches. On March 5, 2019, at the opening of the Second Session of the 13th National People’s Congress, Premier Li Keqiang specifically stated in his Government Work Report: “Tens of millions of families in China are afflicted by cancer. We must implement cancer prevention and control initiatives, advance preventive screening, early diagnosis and treatment, and key scientific research, with a focus on alleviating critical issues affecting people’s livelihoods.” Early screening, early diagnosis, and early treatment have become essential components of cancer prevention and control efforts; therefore, promoting screening for the “new two cancers” in men is of significant importance.

The Medical Immunodiagnosis Research Center of the Institute of Biophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, and the Mass Spectrometry Research Group of the School of Life Sciences, Tsinghua University, jointly with Guyu Society and the Council of the Urology Alliance, call on men across society to participate in screening for the “New Two Cancers” for the sake of their own health and family well-being. They also advocate establishing healthy living concepts and promoting healthy lifestyles to build happy and healthy families. In their initiative, they stated: “Please support and encourage every man around you to participate in the ‘New Two Cancers’ screening campaign. Let us work hand in hand to promote screening for the ‘New Two Cancers,’ actively respond to the national Healthy China strategy, and ensure early screening, prevention, and treatment of cancer, thereby contributing our share to the implementation of the ‘Healthy China’ strategy!”