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A new molecular test may help detect prostate cancer that is missed by current tests, according to a study reported in the journal Urology.
The study involved 517 patients who underwent an investigational molecular test called uPM3. The researchers collected urine samples following a digital rectal exam from 517 men undergoing prostate biopsies. The molecular test gave a correct positive or negative result for the presence of prostate cancer 81% of the time.
The new test detects the presence of a new prostate cancer gene marker called PCA3 in urine. In contrast, traditional prostate cancer detection by measuring total prostate specific antigen levels or tPSA had an overall accuracy of 43% to 47% in the study.
"The uPM3 test is an exciting new urine test to help men make critical decisions regarding early detection for prostate cancer,” said Alan Partin, M.D., Ph.D., professor of Urology at Johns Hopkins Medical Institute, who was not involved in the study.
"Previous studies have shown that the PCA3 gene is one of the most specific genes yet found to be associated with prostate cancer,” said researcher David Bostwick, medical director of Bostwick Laboratories. “
Bostwick said the gene is over-expressed in 95% of cancers tested, at an average level that is 66 times greater than in adjacent non-cancerous tissue.
“This study shows that identifying this gene in cells from the urine of men undergoing biopsy may be an important new tool for determining which men have this all-too-common disease," said Bostwick.
The uPM3 assay was developed by DiagnoCure Inc., of Quebec City, Canada.
Source: Medical Week staff, week of August 9, 2004
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