Biomarkers in prostate cancer: new era and prospective

Currently, most men are diagnosed with prostate cancer (PCa) after a prostate-specific antigen (PSA) test shows an elevated level of the PSA protein. An elevated level suggests cancer may be present. If an elevation is detected, a biopsy to detect cancer is followed. But the PSA test is controversial. An elevated level does not always mean there is cancer present. The test often leads men to having unnecessary biopsies and treatments. Even if cancer is found on biopsy, many of these cancers are slow growing and would not impact the lives of the men who have them. Current advances in molecular techniques have provided new tools facilitating the discovery of new biomarkers for PCa. The purpose of this review is to examine the advances in PCa biomarkers and implication for possible improving disease outcome. The future of cancer prognosis may rely on small panels of markers that can accurately predict PCa presence, stage, and metastasis and can serve as prognosticators, targets, and/or surrogate endpoints of disease progression and response to therapy.