Diagnostic potential in prostate cancer of a panel of urinary molecular tumor markers

Abstract

Prostate cancer (PCa) is a heterogeneous, multifactorial and multifocal disease. Therefore, the search for a combination of assays using a panel of tumor markers is fundamental for a more precise and reliable diagnosis. In the present study we investigated the diagnostic value of five different genes, associated with PCa carcinogenesis, encoding for prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA), serine protease Hepsin, PCa antigen 3 (PCA3), UDP-N-acetyl-alpha-D-galatosamine transferase (GalNAC-T3) and prostate-specific antigen (PSA). Forty-four patients, with previously untreated, histologically verified PCa and forty-six patients with benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) were enrolled in this study. Absolute concentration of the transcript levels of each gene was calculated by quantitative Real-Time PCR analysis in urine sediments of men suffering from PCa or BPH after prostatic massage. The diagnostic value of a concomitant examination of these markers was evaluated by logistic regression analysis. We demonstrated that the diagnostic potential of the combined urinary PSA and PSMA level was significantly better than that of each singularly considered marker, including total serum PSA, the present gold standard test for PCa diagnosis.

Glyoxalases in Urological Malignancies

“…So far, the gold standard diagnosis for urological neoplasms is pathological diagnosis and the early screening methods are rare. Some existing biomarkers such as prostate-specific antigen (PSA) may be useful in PCa screening, however, due to its poor specificity, this is associated with over-diagnosis and over-treatment, which limits its application [59][60][61]. With regard to Glo1 as drug target, Sharkey et al [62] provided the first demonstration that a competitive inhibitor of Glo1 effectively inhibited the growth of PCa tumors in mice, when delivered as the diethyl ester prodrug.…”

“…Nevertheless, the molecular biology and mechanisms of prostate carcinogenesis remain to be further elucidated in order to identify additional diagnostic factors. As above mentioned, while the possibility of biomarkers for PCa has been investigated for some molecules, their prospects in clinical application still need to be further evaluated [60,61,67]. The need for additional biomarkers that supplement PSA is urgently needed.…”

Test urinaire PCA3, cancer de la prostate et autres pathologies prostatiques

“…Le score PCA3 moyen était significativement plus bas dans ce groupe que chez les 206 patients avec biopsies positives [31]. Seules trois études ont spécifiquement étu-dié, par RT-PCR quantitative, le test urinaire PCA3 chez des patients atteints d'une HBP [6,49,50]. Dans ces études, le score PCA3 médian était significativement plus élevé dans le groupe cancer que dans le groupe HBP.…”

“…Dans ces études, le score PCA3 médian était significativement plus élevé dans le groupe cancer que dans le groupe HBP. La capacité du test PCA3 à distinguer les deux groupes de patients était bonne avec une AUC entre 0,68 et 0,814, une sensibilité entre 60 et 63 % et une spécificité entre 91 et 100 % [6,49,50], des performances au moins similaires à celles observées dans les autres études portant sur des patients témoins, globalement regroupés sous le vocable « non cancéreux » (cf. supra).…”

Multiple markers for the non-invasive diagnosis and characterisation of prostate cancer

“…Specific to CaP, panels of molecular and protein-based markers have been used to improve serum PSA-based CaP detection [238][239][240] . The most widely publicized and promising appear to be the combination of PCA3 and TMPRSS2-ERG fusion transcripts in postmassage urine as previously described.…”