Advances in biomarkers for the early diagnosis of prostate cancer

More and more studies have revealed that the level of serum prostate specific antigen(PSA) has little value for early diagnosis of prostate cancer (PCa). For example, negative prostate biopsies are as high as 70%-80% for patients with serum PSA ranging between 4 ng/mL and 10 ng/mL. However, the negative results cannot exclude the existence of cancer. In the studies of the early diagnosis of PCa, investigators focused on seeking biomarkers that have higher sensitivity and specificity. Recently, PSA derivatives, HPC1, PCA3, TMPRSS2: ETS, GSTP1, AMACR, GOLPH2, EPCA, sarcosine, and the combination of multiple biomarkers are widely discussed. In this article, we have reviewed their recent development and the prospective value of the combination of multiple biomarkers, which may be helpful for the early diagnosis and the prognostic monitoring of patients with PCa.