LOS ANGELES, May 23 (UPI) -- A sensitive test for prostate cancer, A+PSA assay, measures levels of prostate-specific antigen and six specific antibodies, U.S. researchers say.
Senior study author Gang Zeng, an associate professor of urology at the University of California, Los Angeles, Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center, says the test is more sensitive and more specific than the conventional PSA test used currently.
"This is a very promising new approach," Zeng says in a statement. "Instead of using just one parameter, PSA, to test for prostate cancer, we use multiple parameters that can be measured in a single reaction."
The conventional PSA test for prostate cancer, used for nearly 30 years, does not differentiate between prostate cancer and the enlargement of the prostate. The A+PSA test detects six specific antibodies found in the blood of men with prostate cancer, Zeng says.
The study, published in the Journal of Translational Medicine, finds using the new test, the percentage of men with prostate cancer who were correctly identified as having a malignancy was 79 percent, compared with the 52 percent found in just PSA testing.
"While measuring PSA is useful in identifying men with prostate cancer, some men with prostate cancer have a normal PSA level, and small elevations in PSA above normal may be produced both by prostate cancer and an enlarged but benign prostate," study author Dr. Allan Pantuck says.
