Prostate cancer gene test coming soon
Jan 17, 2008
Scientists plan to start offering a new gene test for prostate cancer risk within months.
The test screens men's blood or saliva samples for five genetic variants linked to prostate cancer. Once those blood or saliva samples arrive at the researchers' lab, the test takes about a week.
"The genetic findings in our paper can be used now, and we plan to make the test available in the next few months. team describes the test in today's advance online edition
Prostate cancer gene test
Researchers identified the five genetic variants based on blood samples from on more than 4,600 Swedish men, including nearly 2,900 prostate cancer patients.
For instance, prostate cancer patients were up to five times more likely to have at least four of the variants. Family history drove those odds higher. Prostate cancer patients with a family history of prostate cancer were more than nine times as likely to have at least four variants.
The findings are "further evidence that prostate cancer has complex and multifactorial origins".
Who should get the prostate cancer gene test?
Researchers team cautions that more work is needed "to test the value of these findings in assessing the risk of prostate cancer in individual men".
In his statement, a member explains why the test will be made available anyway.
"We plan to offer the test now because we believe that some men and their physicians will want to take advantage of these findings - knowing the test will be refined over time"
who co-founded Proactive Genomics, the company that will offer the test - doesn't yet know which men are the best candidates for the test.
"It is premature to make specific recommendations on who should get the test, but we believe it will be especially beneficial to men who have marginally elevated PSA [prostate specific antigen] levels and men who have a family history of prostate cancer".
The test only focuses on those five gene variants, not any other genes that may affect prostate cancer risk. So it's not guaranteed to be a foolproof check of a man's prostate cancer risk. In a editorial that the test isn't perfect and may falsely classify some men as being at high risk of prostate cancer, so further studies are needed.
Source: webmd.com
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