BEIJING, April 27 (Xinhuanet) -- A new prostate test
that focuses on a blood protein called EPCA-2 produced by prostate cancer cells
accurately found cancer 94 percent of the time, according to researchers at the
Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.
The new test for EPCA-2 ！ or early prostate cancer
antigen ！ not only detected prostate cancer but also determined whether it had
spread to other parts of the body, according to the study published in the May
Issue Urology Thursday.
"We've been able to show that blood levels of it are
low in normal individuals and high in prostate cancer, and that it distinguishes
between cancers that are confined to the prostate and those that have spread
outside the gland," explained study lead researcher Dr. Robert H. Getzenberg,
professor of urology and director of research at Johns Hopkins University's
James Buchanan Brady Urological Institute, in Baltimore.
Experts note that the most commonly used screening
test today ！ the PSA, which measures a protein called prostate-specific antigen
in the blood ！ is far from perfect. Each year, about 1.6 million men in U.S.
undergo biopsies because they test positive on a PSA test ！ but only about
230,000 of them actually have cancer.
Using blood samples from 385 people, Getzenberg found
that EPCA-2 correctly spotted 94 percent of prostate cancers. Previous studies
have found that the PSA finds only about 80 percent of cancers.
"If this test works out, we can avoid a lot of
unnecessary biopsies," Getzenberg said. About 1.3 million men in the United
States will have biopsies this year to find only 200,000 cancers, he noted.
"In general, it does look very promising," Dr. Durado
Brooks, director of prostate and colorectal cancers at the American Cancer
Society, said of the ECPA-2 test. But much more work must be done, he added.
The test still faces large-scale clinical trials and
review by the Food and Drug Administration, but it could be available in early
2008, said Getzenberg, who is a consultant to Seattle-based Onconome Inc., which
is developing the test technology.
(Agencies)
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