Simple Spit Test Could Turn Tide on Prostate Cancer
A spit test, where a sample can be collected at home, is more accurate at identifying future risk of prostate cancer for some men than the current standard PSA blood test, a new study reports.
Results of the BARCODE 1 study, which have been published in the New England Journal of Medicine, calculated the risk of prostate cancer from DNA extracted from saliva – called a polygenic risk score. For the men with the highest risk score, the study found this to be a better tool than the blood test which measures levels of a protein called prostate-specific antigen (PSA), which can be elevated if someone has prostate cancer.
The current PSA test is used to identify men who are at higher risk of prostate cancer – due to their age or ethnicity – and men presenting with symptoms. Men with a high PSA result will be sent for further tests to detect cancer.
The PSA test falsely indicates prostate cancer in men three out of four times and detects cancers which grow so slowly they are unlikely to ever be life-threatening – meaning that men may undergo unnecessary MRI scans, invasive biopsies, and treatments
