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Laboratory News
New Biomarker Urine Test for Prostate Cancer Deemed Most Accurate
It is widely recognized that the PSA blood test currently in
use to detect prostate cancer identifies many men with enlarged prostate glands
who do not develop cancer. Now, there is
news of an experimental biomarker test that more accurately detects prostate
cancer than any other screening method currently in use. The test was created and validated by researchers
at the University
of Michigan, according to
a study published in the February 1 issue of Cancer Research.
The new test uses a urine sample and screens it for the
presence of four different RNA molecules.
The test accurately identified 80% of patients in a study who were later
found to have prostate cancer. It was also 61% effective in ruling out the
disease in other study participants.
"We want to develop a test to allow physicians to predict
whether their patients have prostate cancer that is so accurate a biopsy won't
be needed to rule cancer out," said Arul Chinnaiyan, M.D., Ph.D., director of
the Michigan Center for Translational Pathology at the
University of Michigan. "No test can do that now."
The test is based on the finding by Chinnaiyan and other Michigan researchers
that gene fusions-pieces of chromosomes that trade places with each other
causing two genes to stick together-are common in prostate cancer. Researchers identified that these gene
fusions override molecular switches that turn off excess growth. Thus, these
gene fusions may be the causative factor in some forms of the disease. Researchers looked for the biomarkers for seven
of the genes believed to fuse in males with prostate cancer. Four of the seven were significant predictors
of the disease. The combination of the
four biomarkers achieved a specificity and positive predictive value of greater
than 75%.
The gene fusion technology has been patented by the University of Michigan and licensed to Gen-Probe,
Inc . Gen-Probe is also developing the PCA3
screening test, which screens for a molecule specific to prostate cancer. Laboratories should look for the release of
this new urine test from Gen-Probe. These new diagnostic technologies
demonstrate how quickly genetic science is delivering every more sensitive
methods to identify disease.
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