Men whose prostate cancer screenings show high-grade prostatic intraepithelial neoplasia may find themselves in limbo, "stuck" between diagnoses.

Lead author Rosanna Paciucci at the Vall d'Hebron Hospital Research Institute in Barcelona said men with high-grade prostatic intraepithelial neoplasia are told prostate cancer has not yet developed, but it might, and they are advised to undergo repeated needle biopsies as a precaution.

The study, published in the Clinical Cancer Research, found that expression of the PTOV1 gene in high-grade prostatic intraepithelial neoplasia lesions is linked to prostate cancer development, and that the higher the expression, the more likely it is that subsequent biopsies will find cancer. The reverse is also true -- a lack of PTOV1 reduces the risk of prostate cancer.

"This is the first high-grade prostatic intraepithelial neoplasia biomarker to be associated with prostate cancer development," Paciucci said in a statement.

When the findings are validated, the PTOV1 gene marker could be used to determine which men with high-grade prostatic intraepithelial neoplasia are at substantial risk of developing prostate cancer, Paciucci said.