New Blood Test Can Detect Prostate Cancer More Accurately And Earlier

New Blood Test Can Detect Prostate Cancer More Accurately And Earlier.
A untrodden blood probe to spot a cluster of specific proteins may evidence the presence of prostate cancer more accurately and earlier than is now possible, new research suggests. The test, which has thus far only been assessed in a lead study, is 90 percent accurate and returned fewer false-positive results than the prostate fixed antigen (PSA) test, which is the current clinical standard, the researchers added. Representatives of the British public limited company that developed the test, Oxford Gene Technology in Oxford, presented the findings Tuesday at the International Conference on Molecular Diagnostics in Cancer Therapeutic Development in Denver, hosted by the American Association for Cancer Research.

The examine looks for auto-antibodies for cancer, alike to the auto-antibodies associated with autoimmune diseases such as variety 1 diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis and lupus. "These are antibodies against our own proteins," explained John Anson, Oxford's transgression president of biomarker discovery. "We're tiring to look for antibodies generated in the beginning stages of cancer. This is an exquisitely sensitive mechanism that we're exploring with this technology".

Such a study generates some excitement not only because it could theoretically detect tumors earlier, when they are more treatable, but auto-antibodies can be "easily detected in blood serum. It's not an invasive technique. It's a unassuming blood test". The researchers came up with groups of up to 15 biomarkers that were exhibit in prostate cancer samples and not present in men without prostate cancer. The exam also was able to differentiate actual prostate cancer from a more benign condition.

Because a apparent is currently pending, Anson would not list the proteins included in the test. "We are prosperous on to a much more exhaustive follow-on study. At the moment, we are taking over 1,800 samples, which includes 1,200 controls with a well range of 'interfering diseases' that men of 50-plus are prone to and are running a very large analytical validation study".

That review is due to be completed early next year, at which point Oxford is "going to be seeking partnership to strengthen the test further". He also expressed hope that the technology could one day be applied to other diseases, including lupus, on which there is some opening data. Anson predicted that, if further trials go well, the try could be available commercially in 10 to 15 years.

Researchers have been on the hunt for a better screening test for prostate cancer, given the unreliability of the accepted standard. Because the PSA test generates so many false-positives, many men end up getting surgery or diffusion that they simply don't need. "The current PSA test has a great sensitivity, of over 90 percent, but star-crossed specificity, so there are a lot of false-positives. A lot of men are going on for unnecessary diagnostic procedures such as needle biopsies and it is possible that radical prostatectomies that aren't required".

The field of biomarkers is intended to further the growing parade-ground of personalized medicine, where drugs and treatments are tailored to the specific characteristics of a person's cancer. However, Dr Gordon B Mills, program easy chair of the cancer conjunction and chair of the department of systems biology at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, said "those drugs are not succeeding to be very useful unless at the same time we are able to label patients likely to benefit from them". According to American Cancer Society estimates, about 218000 cases of prostate cancer will be diagnosed in the boondocks in 2010, and there will be approximately 32050 deaths.

Prostate cancer is the most communal type of cancer found in American men, other than skin cancer. One man in six will get prostate cancer during his lifetime, and one in 36 will lose one's life of the disease. More than 2 million men in the United States who have had prostate cancer are still spirited today barshasha melbourne. The death rate for the disease is affluent down, and it's being found earlier, the cancer society says.