A new study points to a gene change (a change in DNA) that occurs in some prostate cancers and can be used to sort men into high-, medium- and low-risk groups, the researchers say.
More than a million men a year have a prostate biopsy in the United States alone: doctors use a special needle to remove a small piece of the prostate and examine it under a microscope. The most common test, however, is a blood test called prostate-specific antigen, or PSA. Its results are uncertain: PSA can be raised in men who do not have cancer, and the test has not been shown to help patients live longer.
The urine test can be done in men found to have a high PSA, to show whether they need a biopsy or can spare themselves the pain that goes with it.
The new test builds on work published in 2005 showing that half of the cancers found by PSA testing are caused by the fusion of two genes, TMPRSS2 and ERG, which makes cells overproduce a substance that is shed into the urine.
The researchers assessed the new test in more than 1,000 men and were able to spare many of them a biopsy.
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