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PSA in Prostate Cancer Diagnosis

  • Chapter
The Oncogenomics Handbook

Part of the book series: Cancer Drug Discovery and Development ((CDD&D))

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Abstract

Significant improvement in prostate cancer diagnosis and monitoring of therapy has been made possible by the discovery and use of prostate-specific antigen (PSA) measurement in patient serum. Widespread use of the PSA test has resulted in significant prevention of death from this major cancer disease in males. PSA measurements are used not only to stage the patient’s cancer or monitor therapy but also to screen for patients who need the prostate biopsy, a costly and painful process. There are controversies present with regard to the serum PSA cutoff (4.0 µg/mL), above which level the cancer is suspected. A lower cutoff (2.5 µg/mL) improves sensitivity of cancer detection but reduces the specificity, because benign diseases of the prostate also might raise serum PSA. Measurement of serum PSA isoforms—complex or free PSA—has been reported to improve the efficiency of the PSA test. The main way serum PSA is measured is by immunoassays, of which many commercial methods, applied on automated systems, are available. It is, however, important to consider issues like hook and heterophilic interference that could affect some PSA assays. Future improvements in prostate cancer diagnosis include markers for aggressive than the slow-growth cancer and use of multiple markers to improve the efficiency of the diagnosis.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Bayer Diagnostics, Tarrytown, NY

    Pradip Datta PhD, DABCC

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  1. Pradip Datta PhD, DABCC
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  1. CuraGen Corporation, New Haven, CT

    William J. LaRochelle PhD  & Richard A. Shimkets PhD  & 

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© 2005 Humana Press Inc., Totowa, NJ

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Datta, P. (2005). PSA in Prostate Cancer Diagnosis. In: LaRochelle, W.J., Shimkets, R.A. (eds) The Oncogenomics Handbook. Cancer Drug Discovery and Development. Humana Press. https://doi.org/10.1385/1-59259-893-5:393

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1385/1-59259-893-5:393

  • Publisher Name: Humana Press

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-58829-425-8

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-59259-893-9

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