Assay Shows Value for Patients With Low-Risk Prostate Cancer

Aaron E. Katz, MD, a professor in the Department of Urology at NYU Long Island School of Medicine and chairman in the Department of Urology at NYU Winthrop Hospital, discusses a genomic test for patients with low-risk prostate cancer.

The Oncotype Dx Genomic Prostate Score (GPS) assay was validated by multi-institutional study [NCT03502213] and is included in the National Comprehensive Cancer Network guidelines for this patient population. This assay helps patient and physicians make decisions and who should be on an active surveillance program or not, according to Katz. It was developed to look at 17 genes expressed in the patient’s prostate.

The Oncotype Dx GPS goes through a number of different categories of genes and within each category, there are 2 to 4 genes. which are regulated by hormones and others which are proliferating genes. Katz says the impressive thing about it is that rather than looking under a microscope to see the cellular architecture and describing it using the Gleason Grading System, which has been used for many years, this assay gives physicians the added feature of looking at and isolating only the cancer cells and extracting the DNA. Then the assay uses a reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction to look at the expression of specific genes that are turned on in these cells, which allows the physician to come up with the GPS.

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