New salivary test predicts the risks of hidden cancer better than blood tests
A spit test developed by London’s Institute of Cancer Research, can help detect prostrate cancer better than traditional blood tests.
In short
- A spit test can assess genetic variants to predict prostate cancer
- Prostate cancer is one of the world’s top ten cancers
- General blood test only gets cancer in about 25% of men with high prostate-specific antigen levels
A spit test at a home can now help predict the risk of prostate cancer better than traditional blood tests.
The test has been developed by researchers at the Institute of Cancer Research, London and UK Government Healthcare Center The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust, assessing 130 genetic variants that determine the risk score of prostate cancer.
Prostate cancer is the second most common cancer among men in India after lung cancer. It develops in the prostate gland, a small gland in the male reproductive system that produces fluid for semen.
In testing, a sample can be collected at home that helps determine the genes associated with malignant disease. While the spit test immediately recognizes the risk, the current blood test increases further tests for cancer depending on age or ethnicity and symptoms.
Clinical trials, whose findings have been published in the New England Journal of Medicine, were conducted on 6,142 European men’s DNA between 55 and 69 years of age, one age when the risk of prostate cancer is high.
He calculated a polygenic risk score (PRS), based on 130 small changes in DNA that is associated with prostate cancer.
The score was made by analyzing DNA of hundreds of thousands of men.
Men who had the most genetic risk, about 10%of the group, were invited for more screening tests. Out of 468 men with high genetic risk scores, prostate cancer was found after undergoing 187 (or 40%) MRI and biopsy.
In comparison, normal PSA blood tests only get cancer in about 25% of men who have high PSA (prostate-specific antigen in the blood) levels.
Interestingly, 118 out of 187 men diagnosed with cancer had PSA levels, which were considered ‘normal’ – meaning they could not be tested further using standard methods.
PSA test often raises cancer that is not dangerous and does not require treatment. But genetic risk score (by a saliva test) found more severe, rapidly growing cancer.
In this study, more than half (55%) of cancer found using genetic testing were aggressive, while compared to about 36% using PSA tests.
The study found that the spit test was also more accurate than MRI.
Since the test was developed in the UK, the research team has speculated that in England, the Spit test could first identify the genetic variation of 12,350 people, saving the national health services about 500 million pounds per year.
