[ad_1]
Cancer researchers from University College Dublin (UCD) led the development of a new test using urine to detect prostate cancer. Studies to date have shown that the test is 70% more specific for prostate cancer than the blood test currently used by doctors.
If the new epiCaPture test is validated, it could help identify more precisely the men who do not need invasive tests. This means that many men could be spared from harsh treatments that often have long-term side effects. The test could also help identify aggressive prostate cancer at an early stage so that more patients can potentially cure their cancer.
This research was funded through public donations to the Irish Cancer Society and funding from Science Foundation Ireland, the US Prostate Cancer Foundation and Movember.
In Ireland, 3,500 men are diagnosed with prostate cancer each year. One in three cases will be aggressive cancer and about 500 men die here each year.
When a man is diagnosed with prostate cancer, he will first look to find out if doctors think that his prostate cancer is likely to spread to other parts of the body or not . If this is not the case, the patient can be regularly monitored by his / her doctor through "active surveillance" – regular check-ups and examinations are performed instead of immediate treatment. This prevents the patient from severe treatments like chemotherapy and radical surgeries that can have side effects throughout life, such as incontinence and erectile dysfunction.
If the human prostate cancer is already aggressive – that is, it has spread or is likely to spread beyond the prostate if it is not treated – it has no choice but to seek treatment urgently.
This research was part of an international collaboration led by Dr. Antoinette Perry, Assistant Professor of Cell Biology and Genetics at the UCD School of Biology and Environmental Science and the UCD Conway Institute, and her team, including Eve O'Reilly, Ph.D. student at UCD. and Alexandra Tuzova, a doctoral student funded by the Irish Cancer Society at the UCD.
Dr. Perry said, "Prostate cancer is the fourth leading cause of cancer death in Ireland. Early detection is therefore essential to catch the disease before it spreads. Unfortunately, the tests needed to detect prostate cancer are not quite accurate. Our research, funded with the support of the Irish Cancer Society and others, tackles this problem by developing new ways to catch aggressive, potentially fatal prostate cancer. from a simple urine test. "
"Over the last four years, our research team from University College Dublin has worked with doctors, nurses, patients and other scientists from Ireland, the United Kingdom, United States and Canada to study the urine of nearly 500 men. We showed that nearly 90% of men with aggressive prostate cancer had changes in their DNA that we could detect in their urine. "
"These changes were absent in healthy men and women with non-aggressive disease. If we can replicate these results, our research could contribute to the development of a new, more accurate test for detecting aggressive prostate cancer and saving lives from this disease. "
Dr. Perry is currently working closely with UCD's technology transfer team at NovaUCD to commercialize this test. She recently received funding from Enterprise Ireland to validate the epiCaPture technology in the hope that she will be ready to be used by doctors to test prostate cancer in men in the years. to come up.
Dr. Robert O'Connor, Head of Cancer Research at the Irish Cancer Society, said: "This new major research highlights the vital work that world cancer researchers are currently doing at UCD and across the globe. Ireland to identify new ways to improve the diagnosis of cancer. More work is needed before the potential benefits reach cancer patients. But that shows the potential we have to save more lives from this disease. "
"The Irish Cancer Society can only invest in such vital research with the generous support of the public. We are currently funding more than 100 researchers in Ireland and are investing 30 million euros in cancer research that will save lives by 2020. We could however fund even more research. if we had the necessary funds. That's why Daffodil Day this Friday must be the biggest so far. "
Source link
