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Predicting Recurrence of Prostate Cancer

By admin | April 5, 2006

A new study shows that a test checking for hypermethylation of a single gene can predict recurrence of prostate cancer in patients who have had their glands surgically removed. Epigenomics AG announced today that in a clinical study of 605 prostate cancer patients, those patients who tested positive for hypermethylation of the PITX2 gene were three times more likely to experience cancer recurrence than those who tested negative. The test was also accurate in predicting recurrence for all patient sub-groups, including patients with organ-confined and non-organ-confined disease.

The study was also examining five other genes where hypermethylation was correlated with cancer recurrence, but the researchers found that testing methylation of the PIXT2 gene alone could be used to develop a score that defined a good prognosis group (with 94 percent PSA-free survival 10 years after surgery) and a poor prognosis group (with 70 percent survival).

While the current test used prostatectomy samples, the next goal of the researchers is to see whether the same results can be obtained by testing prostate biopsies. Link

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    • Topics: cancer, news links |

    2 Responses to “Predicting Recurrence of Prostate Cancer”

    1. harvey Says:
      April 6th, 2006 at 9:51 am

      It seems that epigenomics is taking steps in the right direction in terms of translating detection of methylation into detecting risk factors for developing disease. This is exciting.

    2. Epigenetics News » Epigenomics and Stanford Collaborate on Colorectal Cancer Detection Says:
      June 11th, 2006 at 1:38 pm

      [...] Epigenomics and the Molecular Imaging Program at Standord (MIPS) have announced an agreement to collaborate in the area of colorectal cancer detection. The research will aim to complement the benefits of both colorectal cancer detection using methylation markers and detection using positron emission tomography (PET). Positron emission tomography (PET) is a medical imaging technique which produces a three dimensional image of metabolic activities in the body. In oncology, more than 90% of all PET scans are performed as FDG-PET scans, using (18F) fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) as a tracer which is taken up by most cells, but retained by tissues with high metabolic activity such as cancer tissue. [...]