Diagnostic kits for the optical detection of bladder cancer in urine can facilitate effective screening and surveillance. However, the heterogeneity of urine samples, owing to patients with bladder cancer often presenting with haematuria, interfere with the transduction of the optical signal. Here we describe the development and point-of-care performance of a device for the detection of bladder cancer that obviates the need for sample processing. The device leverages the enzymatic release of organogel particles carrying solvatochromic fluorophores in the presence of urinary hyaluronidases—a bladder cancer biomarker. Owing to buoyancy, the particles transfer from the urine sample into the organic phase, where the change in fluorescence can be measured via a smartphone without interference from blood proteins. In a double-blind study with 80 unprocessed urine samples from patients with bladder cancer (including samples with haematuria) or other genitourinary diseases and with 25 samples from healthy participants, our system distinguished the cancerous samples, including those with early-stage bladder cancer, with accuracies of about 90%. Obviating the need for sample pretreatment may facilitate the at-home detection of bladder cancer.

用于光学检测尿液中膀胱癌的诊断试剂盒有助于有效的筛查和监测。然而，由于膀胱癌患者经常表现为血尿，尿液样本的异质性会干扰光信号的转导。在这里，我们描述了一种用于检测膀胱癌的设备的开发和即时性能，该设备消除了对样本处理的需求。该设备利用在尿透明质酸酶（一种膀胱癌生物标志物）存在下携带溶剂变色荧光团的有机凝胶颗粒的酶促释放。由于浮力作用，颗粒从尿液样品转移到有机相中，在那里可以通过智能手机测量荧光变化，而不会受到血液蛋白的干扰。在一项双盲研究中，80 份来自膀胱癌患者（包括血尿样本）或其他泌尿生殖系统疾病患者的未处理尿液样本和 25 份来自健康参与者的样本，我们的系统区分了癌性样本，包括早期膀胱癌样本，准确率约为 90%。无需样本预处理可能有助于在家中检测膀胱癌。