Home spit tests are better than the standard blood test at identifying men at high genetic risk of developing aggressive prostate cancer, early research suggests.
The preliminary results, presented at the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) in Chicago, raise hopes for a potentially more accurate screening tool for a disease that claims around 12,000 lives a year in the Kingdom -United.
There is currently no national prostate cancer screening program and the standard blood test, which measures levels of a protein called prostate-specific antigen (PSA), is not accurate enough.
The saliva test, the sample of which can be collected at home, looks for genetic variants linked to prostate cancer.
For men with a high genetic predisposition to the disease, sputum analysis was more accurate than the PSA test as an early assessment tool, said researchers from the Institute of Cancer Research in London and the Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust.
The team said its research could help “turn the tide on prostate cancer” by providing a cheap, easy-to-use spit test to detect the disease at an early stage and save thousands of lives.
It could also spare many others at lower risk from unnecessary and invasive treatments, the researchers added.
We urgently need an improved test to detect the disease
Professor Kristian Helin
The BARCODE 1 study recruited 6,142 European men aged 55 to 69 from their general practitioner practices.
Men were considered to be at an age where the risk of prostate cancer is increased.
The researchers calculated the polygenic risk score – based on 130 genetic variations of the DNA code linked to prostate cancer – of all participants.
Those with the highest risk scores – 558 men carrying many of these variants – were invited for further screening.
The team found that the saliva test gave fewer false-positive results and detected a higher proportion of aggressive cancers than the PSA blood test.
After an MRI and biopsy, 40% of men with high saliva test scores were diagnosed with prostate cancer.
In the case of PSA tests, only 25% of men with high PSA levels will actually have prostate cancer, the researchers said.
Indeed, the PSA test is not precise enough and can falsely indicate cancer in men three times out of four.
Further research is now needed to confirm whether this tool can save lives from the disease, so that it can be deployed to improve diagnosis.
Naser Turabi
It can also miss cancers that need urgent treatment and detect those that are unlikely to be life-threatening.
Professor Kristian Helin, chief executive of the ICR, said: “Cancers detected early are much more likely to be curable, and with the number of prostate cancer cases expected to double by 2040, we We need to put in place a program to diagnose the disease at an early stage.
“We know that the current PSA test can force men to undergo unnecessary treatment and, more worryingly, it is missing men with cancer.
“We urgently need an improved test to detect the disease.
“This research is a promising step toward that goal and highlights the role that genetic testing can play in saving lives.” »
Naser Turabi, director of evidence and implementation at Cancer Research UK, said: “It is encouraging to see that genetic testing could help guide a more targeted approach to screening based on the risk of developing breast cancer. prostate.
“Further research is now needed to confirm whether this tool can save lives from the disease, so it can be deployed to improve diagnosis.”
It’s incredible to think that because of this study, two lives have now been saved in my family.
Dheeresh, prostate cancer patient
Katie Willis, daughter of Bob Willis, a former England cricket captain who died of prostate cancer and co-founder of the Bob Willis Fund which funded the research, said: “Although the PSA test is effective for some, it was not effective. work for Bob.
“If this research could save even one life, creating this fund would have been a worthy endeavor for our family. »
Dheeresh, 71, from Brighton, was diagnosed with prostate cancer three years ago while taking part in the trial.
He underwent surgery to remove part of his prostate at the Royal Marsden and is currently doing well.
He said: “I was completely shocked when I received my diagnosis as I had absolutely no symptoms, so I know I would never have been diagnosed at this stage if I hadn’t taken part in the test.
“As the saliva test revealed that I had a high genetic risk of developing the disease, my younger brother, who would have been too young to participate directly in the study, enrolled and discovered that he also had a aggressive prostate tumor.
“It’s incredible to think that because of this study, two lives have now been saved in my family.”
News Source : www.independent.co.uk
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