New Test for Prostate Cancer

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User

Posted 09 Mar 2023 at 08:28

There’s an item on Morning Live, BBC1 at 9.15am about a new test for Prostate Cancer if anyone’s interested.

User

Posted 09 Mar 2023 at 15:52

Thanks for highlighting it. He mentioned liquid biopsy near the end but said a trial by Imperial and an Indian organisation to detect PCa cells in blood had 90% success in finding positives and 100% success in finding negatives in 200 samples. So is it good enough to be used for screening at some stage?

Edited by member 09 Mar 2023 at 15:53 | Reason: Not specified

User

Posted 09 Mar 2023 at 16:13

Scholars, is this test useful or relevant to guys who had already had treatment or multiple treatments. Is it useful to guys who have very slow rising PSA after RP. What about testing after RT.

Thanks Chris

Edited by member 09 Mar 2023 at 16:13 | Reason: Duplicate word

User

Posted 09 Mar 2023 at 18:02

It was very small scale research with 210 undiagnosed men who then went on to have the normal diagnostic tests. Of the 210,

- 148 men tested negative in the liquid biopsy and went on to be given the all clear after mpMRI / biopsy

- 56 men tested positive and went on to be diagnosed via mpMRI & biopsy

- 6 men had equivocal results and went on to be diagnosed

The conclusion - a negative liquid biopsy was 100% reliable and an equivocal result is unlikely to turn out to be negative

We are a long, long way from any large scale research on liquid biopsy for men who are already known to have PCa / have had PCa. I am not sure there will be a great hunger for financing such research since the aim is to reduce unnecessary biopsies and men with slow rising PSA are rarely subjected to additional biopsies.

Meanwhile, research has been going on at Barts since 2020 in liquid biopsy to help determine whether a man will respond well to docetaxel.

"Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards." Soren Kierkegaard

User

Posted 09 Mar 2023 at 18:44

A long way from becoming the ultimate primary diagnostic tool so hoped for.

I participated in the EN2 trial back in 2012 and I know of one other member of this group who also participated and in his case the result was a high level of EN2 in his urine and on a subsequent biopsy high-grade PINs were detected. He went on to have his prostate removed and as far as I can recall, the histology showed a low grade PCa.

In my case, no EN2 found however, 3 years later I was diagnosed with a Gleason 6 (3+3).

Once big pharma get involved as was the case with EN2, progress appears to stall, sometimes indefinitely.

Roger

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