FARGO, N.D. —  Doctors hope a $1.4 million federal grant will help researchers at the University of North Dakota and MeritCare find a new screening test for bladder cancer.

The study is designed to bring together research by doctors and scientists to find out if early bladder cancer could be diagnosed through a urine test. Bladder cancer is the fifth most common cancer in North Dakota, UND medical school officials say.

"It represents a wonderful new collaboration with MeritCare,"said Pamela Knudson, spokeswoman for the UND medical school."It's also moving us toward what the federal government wants ... basic scientists working with physicians to try and answer important questions."

Don Sens, a pathology professor at UND, said researchers will be looking at levels of a certain protein that could be an early warning sign for bladder cancer, and how pollutants interact with that protein. A screening test could save lives, he said.

For all its potential, the research also is somewhat of a long shot, Sens said. He called it""high gain, high risk."

"When you're looking at biomarker research like this one, very few of them work out,"he said."But boy when they do ..."

(Story continues below)

Six other UND instructors will be working on the study, including an expert from MeritCare's laboratory. MeritCare's Dr. Conrad Toni, who also teaches at UND, is the lead clinical investigator.

"Everybody has a role in this,"Sens said."I'm the problem solver."

Most bladder cancers are detected in an advanced stage when a patient discovers blood in the urine, Toni said.

"This is an effort to pick that process off way before that,"he said."The methods available now are just not accurate and useful."

Toni said a similar project on prostate cancer"never got out of the door"because it was not funded.

"You have to be a little cautious simply because other tests have been tried,"Toni said."How good this is going to be, we just don't know."

Copyright 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.