Publication
Neves AF, Araújo TG, Biase WKFS, Meola J, Alcântara TM, Freitas DG, Goulart LR. Clin Biochem 2008;41:1191-8
- This study evaluated the differential expression levels of five biomarkers: the androgen receptor (AR), the enzyme 5α-reductase (SRD5A2), kallikrein 2 (KLK2), the prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA) and Prostate CAncer gene 3 (PCA3) by means of multiplex RT-PCR assays in prostatic tissue samples from patients with prostate cancer (PCa; n=48) and benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH; n=25).
- The AR, KLK2, PSMA and PCA3 genes displayed statistically significantly increased transcriptional levels in PCa tissue samples compared to BPH samples.
- The PCA3 transcript demonstrated the greatest difference in gene expression between PCa and BPH tissue samples of all biomarkers: the relative level of the PCA3 transcript was 5.0 fold higher in PCa samples compared to BPH samples.
- In approximately 75% of the PCa tissue samples, the PCA3 expression was higher than in the BPH samples.
- The presence of PCA3 transcripts in the prostatic tissue sample increased the probability of detection of PCa by 9-fold (P=0.0002)), while the presence of PCA3 transcripts combined with a serum prostatic specific antigen (PSA) level ≥ 4 ng/mL increased this probability by 28-fold (P<0.0001; Figure).
- The PCA3 transcript had the best diagnostic accuracy for detection of PCa, especially when combined with a serum PSA level ≥ 4 ng/mL (Table).
- It was concluded that PCA3 was the biomarker best capable of distinguishing PCa from BPH, especially when combined with a serum PSA level ≥ 4 ng/mL.
| Sensitivity | Specificity | PPV | NPV | Accuracy | |
| PCA3 transcript | 73% | 73% | 85% | 60% | 74% |
| PCA3 transcript + serum PSA ≥ 4 ng/mL |
71% | 92% | 94% | 62% | 78% |
PPV: positive predictive value; NPV: negative predictive value
More information: Article at PubMed