Hope for a more accurate prostate cancer diagnosis

A BREAKTHROUGH i n medical research may pave the way for a test that flags up the most aggressive forms of prostate cancer.

Scientists have identified a protein that seems to play a crucial role in the rapid growth of tumours.

If the findings are confirmed, the discovery could lead to a test that differentiates men with aggressive prostate cancer from those with a less threatening form of the disease.

The discovery, published in scientific journal Oncogene, raises hope of tests that deliver an accurate diagnosis from the outset.

Doctors have long called for better tests to define how aggressive prostate cancer is, early in the path of the disease. The results could lead to more targeted treatment for those with the worst cancers – and less treatment for men whose tumours are not dangerous.

Professor Renny Franceschi, who led the research at the University of Michigan, said the discovery of the new biomarker might also eventually lead to a treatment that stops tumours growing.

Prostate cancer is the most common can- cer among men, with 40,000 cases diagnosed in Britain every year.

Current tests only identify whether a tumour is likely to be present. But they are unreliable, holding a high risk of ‘false positives’ that wrongly identify healthy men as having cancer.

The new breakthrough centres on the discovery of a protein which, when it combines naturally with phosphates in the body, seems to activate genes that speed up the growth of tumours.

Professor Franceschi said that if further research proves positive, it might lead to a test involving a simple biopsy when the patient first complains of symptoms.

The team made the discovery by chance while studying t he growth of bone formation.

In tests on mice, stopping the protein from combining with phosphates slowed the rate of tumour growth. The team also examined 129 prostate cancer patients and discovered an absence of the protein in those with slowgrowing or benign tumours.