THURSDAY, Sept. 30 (HealthDay News) -- A set of biomarkers may accurately detect prostate cancer, and a method for measuring low levels of prostate-specific antigen (PSA) in men following radical prostatectomy could help guide treatment, according to two studies presented at the American Association for Cancer Research International Conference on Molecular Diagnostics in Cancer Therapeutic Development, held from Sept. 27 to 30 in Denver.
To assess autoantibodies in prostate cancer serum samples, Rachel A. Fallon, of Sense Proteomic Ltd. in Oxford, U.K., and colleagues used a functional protein array platform with 925 proteins linked to disease. They analyzed samples from 73 cases and 60 controls and identified a set of biomarkers that distinguished between the cancer and control samples with sensitivity and specificity above 90 percent.
David Wilson, Ph.D., of Quanterix Corporation in Cambridge, Mass., and colleagues analyzed PSA levels using Single Molecule Array technology from 60 samples following radical prostatectomy that were below the detection limit of a commercial chemiluminescent immunoassay. All the samples had measurable PSA, down to 0.014 pg/mL.
"Measurement of PSA in post radical prostatectomy patients with AccuPSA could affirm a good prognosis, reduce unnecessary adjuvant radiation, and enable earlier detection of recurrence for earlier, more effective treatment," Wilson and colleagues conclude.
All but one of the authors of the second study are employees of Quanterix Corporation, which manufactures the AccuPSA.
Press Release - Fallon
Press Release - Wilson
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