Feb. 28, 2008 Researchers report finding a new blood biomarker
that enables close to 98 percent accuracy in predicting the
spread of prostate cancer to regional lymph nodes. When cancer
spreads beyond a solid tumor, it often does so at a microscopic
level that typically cannot be identified by conventional
imaging methods such as CT scans. The new blood test measures
levels of endoglin, a plasma biomarker that has been previously
shown to predict the spread of colon and breast cancer. In this
study, researchers concluded for the first time that endoglin
could help predict whether a patient's prostate cancer would
spread beyond the solid tumor site into their lymph nodes. "For
prostate cancer, we have hit the limit of our ability to
classify risk in these patients before initial surgery. We
currently use prostate specific antigen, Gleason grade and a
rectal exam, but the predictive value of those three tests is
inadequate for predicting what cancers will spread. Conventional
imaging modalities used for clinica