The £30 prostate test that could save thousands of lives
DNA screening to detect men most at risk of cancer that kills 12,000 every year
A SIMPLE saliva test costing as little as £30 could soon revolutionise how men are screened for prostate cancer.
The DNA test can identify those most at risk of the disease which kills 11,800 men in the UK each year – an average of one every 45 minutes. Doctors hope it could save thousands of lives through faster diagnosis and prevent unnecessary invasive tests in men unlikely to get the disease.
A spit sample is taken which is tested for genetic variations linked to prostate cancer. The test is able to detect those who face between a three and six-fold increased risk – around one in ten men.
It could lead to a national screening programme on the NHS within three years. The Daily Mail has campaigned for years to end needless prostate deaths through better treatments and greater awareness. New Prostate Cancer UK figures released today show the number of Britons living with or having had the disease has passed 400,000 for the first time.
Professor Ros Eeles, of The Institute of Cancer Research which helped to develop the new test, said: ‘This is a major breakthrough as it totally changes the way we do screening in this country.
‘We have gone from no screening to potentially having a test that could profile the entire population of men and tell them who needs the more intensive screening.
‘It would mean we can really target resources to those who most need it. If you find the disease earlier it’s much easier to treat it and much more easy to cure.’
Prostate cancer is the most common cancer in men – one in eight will develop it in their lifetime.
It has recently overtaken breast cancer as the third most fatal form of the disease in the UK after lung and bowel. There has previously been no single, reliable test for the disease. The PSA blood test most commonly used is notorious for inaccurate results.
The saliva test is the result of a major genetics study, involving more than 140,000 men across the world. Scientists identified 63 new genetic variations in the DNA code – to go with around 100 that were already known – linked to an increased risk of the disease.
They found many of the new variants affect how the immune system ‘talks’ to other cells, suggesting errors in the body’s defences may be a cause of the disease.
They are confident the test will identify the one per cent of men who carry a combination of genes putting them at a six-fold risk of the disease. It can also flag the 10 per cent of men who carry a lower combination of the genes which puts them at a three-fold risk, researchers found.
Trials are underway involving 300 patients from three GP surgeries in London, which will be followed by another involving around 5,000 men early next year.
Only those identified in the spit test as in the ‘at risk’ group will be sent for an MRI scan and possibly, a biopsy, preventing unnecessary procedures.
Professor Anne Mackie, of Public Health England, said: ‘This new study is a very welcome development in the urgent need for a better, more accurate test for prostate cancer.’