Detecting prostate cancer by intracellular macrophage prostate-specific antigen (PSA): a more specific and sensitive marker than conventional serum total PSA.

Abstract

BACKGROUND:

Serum prostate-specific antigen (PSA) is a standard method and a widely used marker for prostate cancer, but it has a poor specificity for early detection. Herein we demonstrate that intracellular macrophage PSA (imPSA) enables screening and differentiation between benign and malignant prostate disease.

MATERIALS AND METHODS:

The efficacy of intracellular macrophage PSA in circulating and tissue macrophages was therefore investigated in a double-centre study of 38 prostate cancer patients and 36 healthy controls by fluorescent-activated cell sorting analysis and immunohistology.

RESULTS:

Both methods uncovered the existence of PSA-positive macrophages specific for patients with prostate cancer. In addition, we demonstrate the superiority of our new test over standard serum total PSA in a blinded double-centre trial. ImPSA had a marked higher sensitivity and specificity than serum total PSA (imPSA: sensitivity 92%, specificity 92%, positive predictive value 92%; serum total PSA: sensitivity 79.5%, specificity 87.5%, positive predictive value 26.8%).

CONCLUSION:

In this study, we demonstrate that imPSA is a new prostate cancer screening method that is highly sensitive and more specific than standard PSA testing.

• Authors: R Herwig, D Mitteregger, B Djavan, G Kramer, M Margreiter, M P Leers, B Glodny, D G Haider, W H Hörl, M Marberger
• Journal: European journal of clinical investigation (Eur J Clin Invest) Vol. 38 Issue 6 Pg. 430-7 (Jun 2008) ISSN: 1365-2362 [Electronic] England
• PMID: 18489403 (Publication Type: Comparative Study, Journal Article, Multicenter Study)

Chemical References

• Biomarkers, Tumor
• Prostate-Specific Antigen

Topics

• Adult
• Area Under Curve
• Biomarkers, Tumor (analysis)
• Case-Control Studies
• Cytoplasmic Vesicles (chemistry)
• Flow Cytometry
• Humans
• Immunohistochemistry
• Macrophages (chemistry)
• Male
• Mass Screening (methods)
• Middle Aged
• Prostate-Specific Antigen (analysis)
• Prostatic Hyperplasia (metabolism)
• Prostatic Neoplasms (chemistry)
• Sensitivity and Specificity
• Statistics, Nonparametric