(RxWiki News) The cancer men fear most has no clear-cut means of being easily detected. The most common test commonly generates false results. A new test being developed may be more accurate and more reliable.
Researchers from several institutions have found that the PSA/SIA assay may be more accurate in definitively detecting prostate cancer than methods most commonly used today. Unlike traditional screenings, the PSA/SIA assay categorizes the many changes in the PSA protein as being produced by either cancer or non-cancer glands.
A blood test that measures prostate-specific antigen, or PSA, has been used for years as a prostate cancer screen. The test has serious limitations, though, often producing false results. False positive results are said to range from 55-75 percent, and false negative, which indicate there is no disease when cancer is present, may be as high as 15 percent.
"More accurate prostate cancer screening is being developed."
The study followed 222 men and found the PSA/SIA assay produced no false negative results and low false positive results. Data was gathered at UH Case Medical Center, VA Boston and Cleveland Clinic, and analyzed by the National Cancer Institute. All of these institutions collaborated in this study.
The study was led by principal Investigator, Mark Stovsky, M.D., urologist at UH Case Medical Center and associate professor of urology at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine.
According to Arnon Chait, CEO of AnalizaDx, Inc., this approach is completely different from traditional ways of looking for cancer biomarkers. Instead of just hunting for these proteins, this method looks at structural changes that cancer causes.
Additional clinical research will focus on how accurate the technology is in a blood test and if it can be used to predict cancer grade and aggressiveness.
Researchers worked with Cleveland-based biotech company, AnalizaDx, Inc., to study a urine test that distinguishes PSA proteins as being cancerous or non-cancerous. The study is being published in the journal Urology.
