This article is more than 5 years old. Information may no longer be current.
Blood test predicted need for treatment in men with prostate cancer
Click Here to Manage Email Alerts
Serum Prostate Health Index and DNA content at the time of diagnosis predicted which men with small low-stage, low-grade nonpalpable prostate cancer would ultimately require treatment, according to findings from a recent study.
“Finding biomarkers that can predict future unfavorable biopsy (progression in tumor volume and/or grade) conversion will help us to identify men with prostate cancer who may or may not need treatment,” Robert W. Veltri, PhD, an associate professor of urology and oncology and director of the Fisher Biorepository & Biomarker Laboratory at The Brady Urological Research Institute at Johns Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore, said in a press release.
Researchers used the Prostate Health Index (PHI; Beckman Coulter immunoassay) to measure total PSA, free PSA and proPSA. They used the AutocyteTM imaging system (TriPath Imaging) to measure DNA content.
They evaluated 71 patients from the Johns Hopkins Hospital Proactive Surveillance Program. Thirty-nine developed an unfavorable biopsy. The level of PHI was higher in men who were predicted to have unfavorable (progressive) biopsies (P=.03).
Serum PHI (HR=2.39; 95% CI, 1.26-4.52), biopsy cancer adjacent areas excess of optical density (HR=2.58; 95% CI, 1.17-5.68) and cancer adjacent areas standard deviation of optical density (HR=5.36; 95% CI, 1.89-15.24) predicted unfavorable biopsy conversion. The highest risk for unfavorable biopsy was for patients with PHI > 34.2 and cancer adjacent areas standard deviation of optical density > 4 (P< .0001) and when combined with the biomarker information could predict about seven of 10 cases correctly.
“The overall objective of the Proactive Surveillance project is that baseline levels of molecular and morphologic biomarkers and other risk factors can identify men with small, low-grade, low-stage prostate cancer who can safely forgo curative intervention based upon monitoring clinical parameters and quantitative biopsy pathology,” Veltri said.
Funding for the study was provided by Early Detection Research Network and SPORE Prostate Grant of the NCI and the Patana Fund.
For more information:
- Veltri RW. #2731. Presented at: AACR 101st Annual Meeting; April 17-21; Washington, D.C.