Doctors have begun a trial of a simple saliva test that aims to spot the top 10% of men who are most at risk of developing prostate cancer. One in eight men develop prostrate cancer at some point in their lives.
The test draws on more than 150 DNA markers to identify the 10% of men who have nearly a threefold greater risk of the disease than the general population, and the 1% of men with a sixfold greater risk.
Researchers created the test after a major study into the genetics of prostate cancer found 63 new gene variants linked to the disease. The new test combines these with more than 100 DNA markers that were already known from previous work.
Off the back of the findings, scientists at the Institute of Cancer Research (ICR) in London have launched a trial of the test across a small number of GPs’ surgeries with the ultimate aim of reducing cases of the cancer in men with the greatest inherited risk.
