Publication
De la Taille A. Expert Rev Mol Diagn 2007;7:491-7
- This review discusses the role of Prostate CAncer gene 3 (PCA) in prostate cancer (PCa) detection.
- Approximately 60% of men with an elevated serum prostate specific antigen (PSA) level or suspicious digital rectal examination (DRE) have a negative prostate biopsy outcome.
- 20-40% of men with an initial negative prostate biopsy have PCa upon repeat biopsy.
- Prostate biopsy is invasive and can be unpleasant and associated with anxiety and complications such as haematuria, rectal bleeding and haematospermia.
- Therefore, there is need for additional biomarkers that can identify patients at high risk of PCa and thereby reduce the number of unnecessary biopsies.
- PCA3 is specifically over-expressed (66-fold) in PCa cells.
- The PROGENSATM PCA3 Assay developed by Gen-Probe is CE-marked and commercially available in Europe.
- It measures post-DRE (3 strokes per lobe) PCA3 messenger RNA (mRNA) from male urine.
- This test provides informative rates (ability for accurately measuring mRNA and calculating the PCA3 Score) of at least 94%.
- The higher the PCA3 Score, the higher the likelihood of a positive biopsy (Figure).
- The performance of the PCA3 Assay is similar for men undergoing a first biopsy or repeat biopsy and, in contrast to serum PSA, independent of prostate volume.
- The PCA3 Score increases linearly with tumour volume and is higher in men with significant than in men with low tumour volume/low grade PCa.
- Serum PSA remains a mainstay of PCa detection but is value should be enhanced via combination with emerging markers such as PCA3.
More information: Article at PubMed