PCA3 Urinary Biomarker for Prostate Cancer.
Year: 2010
Type: article
Abstract: A major ongoing problem in prostate cancer screening is the limited specificity of prostate-specific antigen (PSA) testing. Elevations in serum PSA levels may occur in numerous benign conditions, leading to unnecessary biopsies. Moreover, PSA levels reflect the spectrum of prostate cancer (PCa) risk, such that a proportion of PCas will be missed using the traditional PSA thresholds.1
These issues have paved the way for widespread investigation into alternate PCa biomarkers. In 1999, Bussemakers and colleagues found that the DD3(PCA3) gene was highly overexpressed in PCa tissue compared with adjacent benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) or normal prostate tissue.2 They also reported no detectable DD3 expression in numerous nonprostatic normal tissues and tumors (bladder, breast, cervix, endometrium, kidney, ovary, and testis), suggesting that DD3 was prostate specific. These discoveries led to the hypothesis that PCA3 may be useful as a marker for PCa diagnosis.3
Since that time, a quantitative urinary assay for PCA3 messenger RNA (mRNA) has been developed and several studies have examined the role of PCA3 in screening. This article reviews contemporary studies on PCA3 performance in men undergoing prostate biopsy.
Source: Europe PMC (PubMed Central)
Authors: Stacy Loeb, Alan W Partin
Language: English
Subfield: Pulmonary and Respiratory Medicine
Field: Medicine
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W1426754754