Breakthrough—New gene screen identifies aggressive prostate cancer

Gene screens will eventually replace Gleason scores

Your Gleason score can tell you if your prostate is cancerous, but it cannot always tell you how aggressive that cancer is -- in other words, if it's likely to be lethal.  Even patients with low Gleason scores of 5 or 6 can have a dangerous and aggressive form of cancer.

When patients have low Gleason scores, doctors may suggest watchful waiting, but many still recommend some form of aggressive treatment -- such as radiation or surgery, which can result in "collateral damage" (varying degrees of incontinence and impotence) from the therapy.



Good news -- a study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences says scientists are able to identify DNA in the prostate tumor that is three times more likely to kill patients within a few years.  That's a huge breakthrough -- because it could lead to less overtreatment of the disease, which is a very unfortunate reality today.

For more details, read the article "Aggressive Prostate Cancers Maybe Be Found with Gene Screening," in the Bloomberg Businessweek.

Perhaps as high as 50 percent of all men diagnosed with prostate cancer have a nonlethal form of the disease.  In the study, which followed 281 men in Sweden between 1977 and 1999, they found the aggressive gene in 29 percent of patients.

Unfortunately, the new gene screen may not be ready for clinical use for as long as five years, as follow up studies are required.  In any case, it's progress to keep an eye on, because a reliable gene screen could revolutionize how doctors go about treating prostate cancer.