At-home saliva test for prostate cancer better than blood test, study suggests | Prostate cancer
The study indicates that the spitting test at home appears to be better in predicting prostate cancer than the current front lines test.
The test evaluates 130 genetic variables to provide a risk of prostate cancer, which is the second most common cause of male deaths in the UK.
This alleged result of the risk of multi -genetic risks is found to be a more powerful indicator of aggressive prostate cancer than the standard blood test used in NHSWhich measures protein levels is called prostate antigen (PSA).
Professor Ross Els, who led the research at the Institute cancer Research, London said: “With this test, it may be possible to turn the tide on prostate cancer. We have shown that the spitting test is simple and relatively expensive to identify European heritage men at greater risk because of their genetic composition is an effective tool for the arrest of early prostate cancer.”
Since conducting the experiment, called Barcode 1, the team has developed an updated version of the test based on the recently specified risk variables for men of Asian and African origin and evaluating this in a new study.
The routine PSA test is not currently presented on NHS but the PSA test may be presented if GP is suspected of having prostate cancer. Men over the age of 50 can ask GP for a PSA test, even if they do not have symptoms. Men who have a high result of PSA will be sent to perform more tests, such as MRI scan and biopsy, to detect cancer.
Chris Hoy, from Peripheral cancer has been diagnosedHe called for the available tests for younger men with a family history of the disease and black men, who are likely to be diagnosed like white men. This week, the Minister of Health, Wes String, suggested that he would do so Supporting an examination program for men at greater risk If it is supported by evidence. Recent studies have concluded that a comprehensive examination will not help greatly prevent deaths and is very likely to lead to an unnecessary treatment.
The problem is that PSA tests are lying to prostate cancer in men three times out of four times, and the cancer that grow very slowly can be discovered so much that it is unlikely to be life-threatening-and this means that men may undergo unnecessary magnetic resonance surveying, and the gas ceramic drips and treatments that can include the side effects of urine and mixing. Sexual.
The latest study, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, calculated the degree of multi -genetic risk (PRS) for more than 6000 men from the white European heritage who were recruited from their surgery in the general doctor, between the ages of 55 and 69 years – the life period when the risk of prostate cancer increases. Men with the highest 10 % of the risk levels, based on 130 species of genes associated with prostate cancer, have been invited to more tests. After MRI and prostate biopsy, 40 % of these men were diagnosed with prostate cancer. On the contrary, 25 % of men with a high level of PSA will already have prostate cancer.
The PRS saliva test is also a higher percentage of aggressive cancers. Of the 187 cancerous discovered, 55.1 % of aggressive cancers, compared to 35.5 % set by the PSA test, in a recent study.
The multi -genetic test, if used in conjunction with current methods, can help doctors more accurately identify men who will benefit from more aggressive treatments and can burn balance in favor of examining those with greater genetic risk. However, the team behind the work said it would be necessary to track the results to assess risk and return bodies.
“We can identify men at risk of aggressive cancer who need more tests and spare men who are at less than unnecessary treatments,” said Els, a consultant in clinical oncology and cancerous genetics in Royal Marsen.
Professor Christian Helen, CEO of the Cancer Research Institute, said:
