Search

Background:To evaluate the efficacy of prostate cancer (PCa) detection by the electronic nose (EN) on human urine samples.Methods:Urine samples were obtained from candidates of prostate biopsy (PB). Exclusion criteria were a history of urothelial carcinoma or other malignant disease, urine infection, fasting for <12 h before PB or ingestion of alcohol or foods that might alter the urine smell in the last 24 h. The initial part of the voided urine and the midstream were collected separately in two sterile containers. Both samples were analyzed by the EN immediately after the collection. All patients underwent a standard transperineal, transrectal-ultrasound-guided PB. The pathological results were compared with the outcomes of the EN. Sensitivity and specificity of EN were assessed.Results:Forty-one men were included in the study. Fourteen out of the 41 patients were positive for PCa. Midstream urine did not correlate significantly neither with a positive nor with a negative PB. Instead, significantly different results on the initial part of the urine stream between positive and negative PBs were obtained. The EN correctly recognized 10 out of the 14 cases (that is, sensitivity 71.4% (confidence interval (CI) 42-92%)) of PCa while four were false negatives. Moreover, the device recognized as negative 25 out of the 27 (that is, specificity 92.6% (CI 76-99%)) samples of negative PBs, with only two false positives.Conclusions:We believe this is the first demonstration of an olfactory imprinting of the initial part of the urine stream in patients with PCa that was revealed by an EN, with high specificity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Silencing of microRNAs (miRNAs) by promoter CpG island methylation may be an important mechanism in prostate carcinogenesis. To screen for epigenetically silenced miRNAs in prostate cancer (PCa), we treated prostate normal epithelial and carcinoma cells with 5-aza-2′-deoxycytidine (AZA) and subsequently examined expression changes of 650 miRNAs by megaplex stemloop reverse transcription-quantitative PCR. After applying a selection strategy, we analyzed the methylation status of CpG islands upstream to a subset of miRNAs by methylation-specific PCR. The CpG islands of miR-18b, miR-132, miR-34b/c, miR-148a, miR-450a and miR-542-3p showed methylation patterns congruent with their expression modulations in response to AZA. Methylation analysis of these CpG islands in a panel of 50 human prostate carcinoma specimens and 24 normal controls revealed miR-132 to be methylated in 42% of human cancer cases in a manner positively correlated to total Gleason score and tumor stage. Expression analysis of miR-132 in our tissue panel confirmed its downregulation in methylated tumors. Re-expression of miR-132 in PC3 cells induced cell detachment followed by cell death (anoikis). Two pro-survival proteins-heparin-binding epidermal growth factor and TALIN2-were confirmed as direct targets of miR-132. The results of this study point to miR-132 as a methylation-silenced miRNA with an antimetastatic role in PCa controlling cellular adhesion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of La Radiologia Medica is the property of Springer Nature and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

To increase the acceptance rate and reduce the cost of the screening programme for prostate cancer, a new qualitative and one-step test for prostate-specific antigen (PSA), called PSA RapidScreen, has been evaluated. PSA RapidScreen test is a chromatographic lateral flow immunoassay, which generates a positive or negative result for PSA values or <4 ng/ml, respectively. Capillary blood samples from 188 men were evaluated. Two independent observers interpreted the test at 10, 15, 20 and 25 min. A total of 10 women were tested as controls. Parallel serum samples were simultaneously collected and tested with an ordinary quantitative assay (Elecsys® 2010, Roche). Sensitivity, specificity, accuracy, negative and positive predictive values of the test were 97.6, 90.4, 94, 98 and 89%, respectively. PSA RapidScreen tests on female capillary samples were negative. Reproducibility of the test was 99.5%, while interobserver variation was 5%. Specificity of the test was altered by variations in the reading time. Quantitative assessment of the intensity of the band correlated with the PSA value (r=0.87; t=23.97; P<0.001). PSA RapidScreen is a rapid, simple and reproducible one-step test. The low cost and the speed of the test make it a powerful and convenient tool for prostate cancer screening programmes.Prostate Cancer and Prostatic Diseases (2005) 8, 219–223. doi:10.1038/sj.pcan.4500802; published online 17 May 2005 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Radical retropubic prostatectomy is considered by many centres to be the treatment of choice for men aged less than 70 years with localized prostate cancer. A rise in serum prostate-specific antigen after radical prostatectomy occurs in 10-40% of cases. This study evaluates the usefulness of novel ultrasensitive PSA assays in the early detection of biochemical relapse. 200 patients of mean age 61.2 years underwent radical retropubic prostatectomy. Levels ≤ 0.01 ng ml-1 were considered undetectable. Mean pre-operative prostate-specific antigen was 13.3 ng ml-1. Biochemical relapse was defined as 3 consecutive rises. The 2-year biochemical disease-free survival for the 134 patients with evaluable prostate-specific antigen nadir data was 61.1% (95% CI: 51.6-70.6%). Only 2 patients with an undetectable prostate-specific antigen after radical retropubic prostatectomy biochemically relapsed (3%), compared to 47 relapses out of 61 patients (75%) who did not reach this level. Cox multivariate analysis confirms prostate-specific antigen nadir ≤ 0.01 ng ml-1 to be a superb independent variable predicting a favourable biochemical disease-free survival (P < 0.0001). Early diagnosis of biochemical relapse is feasible with sensitive prostate-specific antigen assays. These assays more accurately measure the prostate-specific antigen nadir, which is an excellent predictor of biochemical disease-free survival. Thus, sensitive prostate-specific antigen assays offer accurate prognostic information and expedite decision-making regarding the use of salvage prostate-bed radiotherapy or hormone therapy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]