Stockholm3, a prostate cancer test developed in Sweden, runs a combination of protein and genetic markers from a blood sample through an algorithm to find the probability of a patient having clinically significant cancer. Studies in more than 90,000 men have shown that Stockholm3 produces significantly better results than the current PSA standard. The test improves prostate cancer diagnosis by reducing unnecessary MRI and biopsies and by identifying significant cancers in men with low or normal PSA values.
However, previous studies have been conducted primarily in Scandinavia on a mainly White population with uncertain generalisability to the rest of the world. A Swedish-American research group has now examined how well it works in an ethnically mixed group of men in the USA and Canada. The study included over 2,000 men at 17 different clinics, 16 per cent of whom were Asian, 24 per cent African-American, 14 per cent Latin American and 46 per cent White American.
All participants had a referral for a prostate biopsy on the basis of an elevated PSA score, abnormal rectal examination, MRI scan or other suspicious clinical finding. Before the biopsy was performed, a blood test was taken along with clinical data pertinent to the Stockholm3 test, which was conducted blinded to the biopsy results. The analysis shows that clinically relevant prostate cancer cases were found in a total of 29 per cent of the men, somewhat more in African Americans and slightly fewer in Asians.
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