New Urine Test Shows Greater Accuracy in Detecting Prostate Cancer

A newly developed urine test for prostate cancer is showing promising results, outperforming current blood-based methods in terms of accuracy and ease of use, the Daily Mail reports.

Researchers say this advancement could pave the way for routine prostate cancer screening for the first time.

The test works by detecting a specific protein shed by prostate tumors that can be identified in urine samples. According to a study published in the journal Cancer Research, the urine-based method achieved an Area Under the Curve (AUC) score of 0.92, a significant improvement over the standard prostate-specific antigen (PSA) blood test, which typically scores between 0.65 and 0.75. The AUC score is a common metric used to assess the diagnostic accuracy of medical tests.

Currently, PSA tests are the most widely used tool for prostate cancer detection, but their limited precision often leads to false positives, unnecessary biopsies, or missed diagnoses. In contrast, the new urine test not only detects the presence of prostate cancer more reliably but may also help indicate the severity of the disease.

Professor Rakesh Heer, chair of urology at Imperial College London and a key member of the Transform study team, described the new test as potentially the most important breakthrough in prostate cancer diagnosis in decades. The upcoming Transform study will evaluate the test in a large-scale clinical trial enrolling between 250,000 and 300,000 British men over the next eight years. The £42 million initiative aims to determine whether the test can deliver similar results in real-world settings.

Mikael Benson, who led the research at Sweden’s Karolinska Institute, emphasized the potential impact of the new biomarkers.

“New, more precise biomarkers than PSA can lead to earlier diagnoses and better prognoses for men with prostate cancer,” he said. “They could also reduce the number of unnecessary prostate biopsies carried out on healthy men.”

Prostate cancer remains a significant health challenge in the UK, with over 52,000 new cases diagnosed each year and more than 12,000 deaths annually. The push for more effective screening has gained urgency in light of recent public disclosures, including former Olympic cyclist Sir Chris Hoy’s announcement of a terminal prostate cancer diagnosis.

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