Urine Test to Reduce Need for Invasive Biopsies in Prostate Cancer Detection

By LabMedica International staff writers
Posted on 08 Aug 2023

Image: The urine test offers a new way to noninvasively detect prostate cancer (Photo courtesy of University of Miami)

While prostate cancer screening can save lives, it can also lead to unnecessary invasive prostate biopsies which often overdiagnose minor cancers that do not require treatment. There is an urgent need for biomarkers that can identify significant prostate cancer via simpler methods like blood or urine tests. Previous attempts to detect prostate cancer noninvasively have faced challenges. Now, new research that will apply innovative technology to well-annotated samples from an ongoing clinical trial of men undergoing prostate cancer biopsy could pave the way for the development of highly accurate markers for detecting prostate cancer.

Researchers at the University of Miami Health System (Miami, FL, USA) have received a USD 2.5 million, five-year National Cancer Institute (NCI) grant to explore a new way to noninvasively detect prostate cancer in collaboration with Exosome Diagnostics (Waltham, MA, USA). Exosome, a manufacturer in the field of exosome extraction and analyses, produces a commercially available exosome-based test for prostate cancer detection. The researchers will explore the potential of small extracellular vesicles, named exosomes, as a novel marker for prostate cancer. Cancer cells discharge these exosomes into bodily fluids, allowing their extraction from sources like blood and urine. The exosomes carry valuable molecular data, such as RNA and DNA from their originating tumors. The researchers aim to utilize this data to improve prostate cancer risk assessments.

The team will analyze information and specimens from an ongoing NCI-backed clinical trial that involves 250 men under evaluation for prostate cancer. The research involves the collection of prostate biopsy tissue, as well as blood and urine samples from the trial participants. The research is based on the theory that by targeting exosomes marked with the "prostate specific membrane antigen" (PSMA) protein, the team can gather exosomes primarily released from prostate cancer cells, leading to a more precise evaluation of prostate cancer risk. The ultimate objective is to develop and validate a novel, non-invasive, exosome-based signature to improve the precision of clinically significant prostate cancer detection. This study has the potential to reduce the drawbacks of prostate cancer screenings by significantly improving risk evaluations and cutting down on unnecessary invasive biopsies, thus enhancing the quality of life for men being evaluated for prostate cancer.

“If this platform is validated, it will have important implications for patients by helping to reduce the need for invasive biopsies,” said Alan Pollack, M.D., Ph.D., chair and professor of radiation oncology at Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center, University of Miami. “The noninvasive testing might also be used as a marker of prostate cancer treatment response and/or progression.”