Findings point to better cancer detection

NEW YORK, July 23 (UPI) -- New York researchers report they have discovered gene fusion that may lead to improved prostate cancer diagnosis.

The group, from Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center, said the new gene fusion found highly expressed in a subset of prostate cancers could lead not only to more accurate cancer testing but to targets for drug therapy and other potential treatments.

The findings are published in the August issue of the journal Neoplasia.

"The prostate cancer gene fusions, and proteins they produce, are important because they serve as a cancer-specific marker," says Dr. Mark A. Rubin of Weill Cornell Medical College.

"Currently, PSA testing is the standard of care, yet it is not accurate enough to predict prostate cancer because many men may have an elevated PSA level but have benign conditions such as inflammation of the prostate."