Researchers at The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston said when the telltale gene, Aurora kinase A, is numerous and overexpressed in urothelial cells, errors during cell division follow. The new cells have too few or too many chromosomes, instead of the normal pairs of 23 chromosomes.

"Abnormal chromosome counts are the most fundamental feature -- the signature -- of human cancers," senior author Dr. Bogdan Czerniak said in a statement. "We have further clarified the role that the Aurora kinase A gene -- AURKA -- plays in this misaggregation of chromosomes in bladder cancer."

The study, published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, said that as a biomarker, Aurora kinase A can detect bladder cancer in voided urine with high degrees of sensitivity and specificity.