Precise Prostate Cancer Test

Reported April 2011

DETROIT (Ivanhoe Newswire) --Most men have heard of the PSA blood test. It's been the gold standard for detecting prostate cancer since 1989, but it's not always precise. In fact, the test might say you have cancer when you really don't. Now, a new urine test is much more accurate.

Ron Wiley's art is unpredictable, and that's what he loves most about it.

"When you have ideas in your head, it never goes the way you want it to go,” Ron Wiley, Cancer patient told Ivanhoe.

Wiley’s life has been the same way. He never guessed he'd be diagnosed with prostate cancer, and then brain cancer shortly after.

"I thought I was getting ready to cash in my chips," Wiley joked.

But that was 10 years ago. Surgery, chemo and radiation took care of his brain tumor and doctors are keeping a close watch on his prostate cancer, which is slow-growing.

Urologist, Dr. John Wei, says treating patients like Wiley would be easier if there were better ways to detect the cancer. Most patients get the PSA blood test, but it can lead to unnecessary biopsies up to 80 percent of the time.

"PSA, you have to understand, stands for 'prostate specific antigen.' It actually is not specific for cancer. So, when your doctor says it's abnormal, it could be because you have an enlarged prostate, prostate inflammation or cancer,” John T. Wei, M.D., MS, Urologist at the University of Michigan Health System told Ivanhoe.

Dr. Wei and his colleagues are studying a new urine test. It works by identifying gene fusions. They occur when pieces of two chromosomes trade places with each other and cause the two genes to stick together. These fusions are common in prostate cancer.

"This test will not only help improve the specificity, that is tell you whether you have cancer or not, but it will significantly improve our ability to say if someone has a high-risk cancer or low-risk cancer," Dr. Wei said.

The new urine test accurately identified 80 percent of patients with cancer. It was more precise than PSA and the recently developed PCA 3 test. Doctors say it will help eliminate unnecessary biopsies and could be used in combination with these other tests.

"Someday, by putting these tests in, it's going to make my life easier, if it doesn't put me out of business,” Dr. Wei said.

Wiley continues to live with his prostate cancer. He hasn't had treatment, but if he needs it he says he's ready and willing.

"I think once you go through brain cancer, I mean, what more? Nothing's going to hold me down,” Wiley concluded.

He’s an artist who treats life like his talent -- using simple tools to create his own masterpiece.

Doctor Wei says more than 90 percent of patients with prostate cancer never have to have treatment because their cancer is slow growing. This new urine test, which is now being called the TMPRSS:ERG, may be able to pinpoint these patients more accurately while also telling doctors which patients need aggressive treatment.

The Biophysical Society contributed to the information contained in the TV portion of this report.

Click here to Go Inside This Science or contact:

Katie Vloet
Lead Public Relations Representative
University of Michigan Health System
kgazella@med.umich.edu

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