UPDATE - Issue 25 - Spring 2006
A better test than PSA?
Research funded by the Prostate Research Campaign UK over the past three years has resulted in a successful patent application protecting discoveries that could lead to a new test for prostate cancer.
The team led by Dr Christiane Fenske at St George's Medical School, London has been examining the properties of a range of molecular markers - genes that are specifically expressed in prostate cancer cells circulating in patients' blood streams.
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Christiane Fenske and Christodoulos Pipinikas, who has carried
out the bulk of the laboratory work. |
Some markers are found to be indicators of early stage cancer, others of metastasizing cancer and yet others of aggressiveness.
The team concluded that a diagnostic test able to distinguish between all stages of prostate cancer development would have to involve several markers, each differently regulated at different stages of the disease.
The technique for identifying the markers is called quantitative reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction. It can pick up one prostate cell amongst 100 million blood cells. Space and editorial understanding prevent us attempting to explain how it works here!
Patent applications have been filed covering the use of patient blood samples and a range of markers. The patents cover tests used in diagnosis, monitoring disease after surgery and tracking the response to therapy.
Further work is needed, notably to strengthen the statistical foundation for the proposed tests. (So far the analysis has covered some 400 patients from St George's Hospital). Now that the team has a good idea of which markers may be most useful in diagnosis, it can focus on the establishment of combinations of markers to use in one test, thereby reducing cost, time and the amount of patient blood needed. Another use for the test might be in predicting the risk of tumour development; this warrants further study.
On top of all the science, Dr Fenske is now involved in negotiations with a technology company with the aim of formulating business plans to develop the potential product further.
We wish her and the team well with this important work that we are continuing to fund.