Extremely Early Diagnostic Test for Prostate Cancer

PURPOSE: This article reports the results of a blinded fibre diffraction study of skin samples taken from TRAMP mice and age-matched controls to determine whether changes noted in fibre diffraction studies of human skin were present in these TRAMP mice studies. These mice are bred to progress to Gleeson Type 3 to Type 5 prostate cancer. METHODS: Small strips, 1mm×5mm, cut from the mouse skin samples were loaded into cells in the same way as human samples and slightly stretched to remove the crimp. They remained completely hydrated throughout exposure to the synchrotron beam. RESULTS: The added change that was reported for prostate cancer in 2009 was obtained for all TRAMP mice samples, indicating that this change can be read as High Grade Cancer in human diagnostic tests. DISCUSSION: These changes were evident for all 3 and 7 week old TRAMP mice samples but not for any of the control samples. This indicates that the changes in the fibre diffraction patterns appear much earlier than in any other available prostate cancer diagnostic test which cannot verify the presence of prostate cancer before 10 weeks of age. The fibre diffraction test is therefore the most accurate and earliest test for high grade prostate cancer.