Oxford University scientists have identified proteins in the blood that are linked to aggressive forms of prostate cancer, potentially allowing doctors to predict the disease years in advance. The findings, from the largest study of its kind, could pave the way for new methods to catch the disease early or prevent it altogether.
Study Details and Key Findings
The research, published in European Urology and presented at the American Society of Human Genetics (ASHG) annual meeting, examined blood samples from 982 men who later developed prostate cancer. A randomly selected sample of 1,573 men from the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition was also included. Researchers measured more than 6,000 proteins in the blood, with participants followed up for around 16 years.
Scientists found 12 proteins linked to prostate cancer diagnosed more than 15 years later, including GZMK, a protein produced by immune cells involved in recognising and destroying abnormal cells. This suggests the immune system may keep prostate cancer in check long before diagnosis. They also identified seven proteins linked to aggressive prostate cancer, one of which, ANKRD1, was found in cancers that spread or cause early death.
Expert Insights
Dr Zhe Huang, first author of the study and a postdoctoral epidemiologist at Oxford Population Health, said: "Prostate cancer is not one disease. Many prostate cancers grow slowly and may never cause harm, while others are aggressive and can be life-threatening. By measuring thousands of proteins in blood collected years before diagnosis, we can begin to investigate how men who later develop aggressive prostate cancer may differ from men who do not. Ultimately, we hope this will help us understand the biology of aggressive prostate cancer and identify markers that could improve how we assess risk in the future."
Dr Iain Foulkes, executive director of research and innovation at Cancer Research UK, which part-funded the study, said: "Prostate cancer is one of the biggest cancer killers of men, yet we still don't fully understand why some tumours grow slowly and may never cause harm, while others become aggressive and life-threatening. Understanding what drives these differences is crucial if we are to identify those most at risk and ultimately save more lives. This research offers important new clues... While there is more work to do, discoveries like this could pave the way for better ways to identify men at risk and, ultimately, prevent aggressive prostate cancer before it develops."
Impact and Next Steps
Prostate Cancer UK said more than 63,000 men are diagnosed with the disease each year and that more than 12,000 die from it. Early stage prostate cancer often has no symptoms, but in later stages it can change urinary habits such as weak flow or needing to go more often. The NHS said the main symptoms include 'stop start' peeing, needing to pee urgently or often, peeing during the night, having a weak flow of urine, difficulty starting to pee, and feeling you still need to pee after finishing. Other symptoms include erectile dysfunction, blood in urine or semen, and lower back pain or losing weight without trying.
The study also found links with blood levels of proteins produced by genes already known to be important in prostate cancer, including ERBB3, KRAS and NRAS, which were linked to aggressive prostate cancer diagnosed around a decade later. Simon Grieveson, assistant director of research at Prostate Cancer UK, said: "One of our greatest challenges in prostate cancer is to better understand which men are at greatest risk of being diagnosed with aggressive disease. This research provides further insight into particular proteins, and associated genes, which might play a part in increasing a man's risk of getting aggressive prostate cancer."
Professor Prabhakar Rajan, from Queen Mary University of London, welcomed the study but said "it does not yet establish that a protein-based blood test can reliably identify men who will develop aggressive prostate cancer or is ready for routine clinical use".
