The clinical role of prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA)

Prostate cancer remains the most common cancer type in men in the United States. Efforts are increasing to evaluate and to discover diagnostic and therapeutic markers for prostate cancer patients. One of these, prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA), is a transmembrane protein highly expressed in all types of prostatic tissue, especially cancer. The radio-immunoconjugate form of the anti-PSMA monoclonal antibody (mAb) 7E11, known as the ProstaScint scan, is currently being used to diagnose prostate cancer metastasis and recurrence. Early promising results from various Phase I and II trials have utilized PSMA as a therapeutic target. Recently, PSMA expression in endothelial cells of tumor-associated neovasculature has been described. PSMA's possible role in malignant angiogenesis newly expands the realm of its possible beneficial uses, especially as new anti-PSMA mAbs continue to be developed and refined.