Reference: Pchejetski D, Hunter E, Dezfouli M, et al. This suggests a real benefit for both diagnostic and screening purposes,' says Pshezhetskiy.įor PSE to be adopted widely in prostate cancer screening, it will require further validation in a cohort with low cancer prevalence, the researchers say. 'When tested in the context of screening a population at risk, the PSE test yields a rapid and minimally invasive prostate cancer diagnosis with impressive performance. They compared the performance of the standard PSA test with the PSE test, discovering that the latter significantly enhances detection accuracy for at-risk men. Pshezhetskiy and colleagues recruited 147 participants that were either enrolled in the PROSTAGRAM screening pilot study, diagnosed with prostate cancer or a healthy control. “The purpose of this study was to determine whether combining the Episwitch prostate cancer test with the PSA test will increase its diagnostic accuracy,” the research team write. During this time, it has become clear that aberrant DNA methylation and histone acetylation – examples of epigenetic marks – are associated with prostate cancer onset. Over recent years, epigenetic testing capabilities have advanced significantly. In Cancer, Pshezhetskiy and colleagues present: the Prostate Screening EpiSwitch (PSE) test, which combines the PSA test with epigenetic testing. Combining the PSA test with epigenetic testing “Only about a quarter of people who have a prostate biopsy due to an elevated PSA level are found to have prostate cancer.”ĭeveloping a new blood test that has greater accuracy, and is also non-invasive and inexpensive, is a focus for researchers.

“There is currently no single test for prostate cancer, but PSA blood tests are among the most used, alongside physical examinations, MRI scans and biopsies,” says Professor Dmitry Pshezhetskiy from UEA’s Norwich Medical School. Subscribe to Technology Networks’ daily newsletter, delivering breaking science news straight to your inbox every day.

Psa reliability and validity