A genetic score based on PCa risk-associated single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) is an independent predictor of prostate biopsy outcomes, suggest the results of a new study conducted by a group from the Department of Urology Huashan Hospital, Fudan University in Shanghai, China.
The authors, who relate their findings to the male population in China, also suggest that this score can improve predictive performance of existing clinical variables, especially for patients with a total PSA levels < 20 ng/ml.
"Genetic susceptibility to prostate cancer (PCa) is well established," write the authors. "In a recent study with a large number of cases and controls from the Chinese Consortium for PCa Genetics (ChinaPCa), we identified 25 SNPs that were significantly associated with PCa risk and obtained odds ratio (OR) estimates for these SNPs in Chinese men."
In the follow-up of the ChinaPCa study, this investigation aimed to evaluate whether a genetic score based on these 25 PCa risk-associated SNPs can independently predict outcome of prostate biopsy, and improve the predictive performance of existing clinical variables such as prostate-specific antigen (PSA).
The results of the study will be presented tomorrow at the 28th Annual EAU Congress in Milan, 15-19 March 2013.
Three-hundreds and twelve consecutive patients who underwent prostate biopsy for detection of PCa at Huashan Hospital, Shanghai, China since January 2010 were recruited for this study. All clinical variables such as serum PSA levels as well as DNA samples from peripheral blood were collected prior to biopsy.