Journal Watch

New urine test has higher diagnostic accuracy for prostate cancer

A new urine test that measures 18 genes associated with prostate cancer provides higher accuracy for detecting clinically significant cancers than PSA and other existing biomarker tests, according to a study published April 18 in JAMA Oncology. The urine test, MyProstateScore 2.0, was shown to meaningfully reduce unnecessary prostate biopsies while providing highly accurate detection of worrisome prostate cancers, the researchers concluded. Jeffrey Tosoian, MD, is the study’s first author.

VUMC advances precision medicine 

An analysis of genomic data from nearly 250,000 participants in the National Institutes of Health’s All of Us Research Program has identified more than 275 million previously unreported genetic variations, nearly 4 million of which have potential health consequences. The data, reported Feb. 19 in the journal Nature, constitutes a research resource that is unprecedented in its scale and diversity, as 77% of the participants historically have been underrepresented in biomedical research, and 46% are from underrepresented racial and ethnic minorities. Alexander Bick, MD, PhD, is the paper’s corresponding author. 

Breast cancer variants identified for women of African ancestry 

A study led by researchers from Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center sheds light on some of the genetic variants that make breast cancer more deadly for women of African ancestry and significantly reduces the disparity in knowledge for assessing their genomic risk factors. The study, which was published May 13 in Nature Genetics and led by Wei Zheng, MD, PhD, MPH, is the largest genome-wide association study ever conducted among women of African ancestry for breast cancer, the researchers said. Analyzing 18,034 cases and 22,104 controls of African ancestry, they identified genetic variants at 12 loci associated with breast cancer risk at the genome-wide significant level. Of them, variants in three loci were associated with risk of triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC). Approximately 8% of African-ancestry women carry all six risk variants in these loci, and these women are 4.2 times more likely to be diagnosed with TNBC than those who carry none or only one of the variants.  

Long-term follow-up pinpoints side effects for prostate cancer survivors 

A 10-year follow-up study of nearly 2,500 U.S. men who received prostate cancer treatment will help inform decision-making in terms of treatments and side effects for a diverse population. The CEASAR (Comparative Effectiveness Analysis of Surgery and Radiation for Localized Prostate Cancer) study, coordinated by Vanderbilt University Medical Center, is a multisite research study conducting long-term follow-up on men who were diagnosed with localized prostate cancer between 2011 and 2012. Researchers have now followed the same cohort of men for more than a decade, administering a series of questionnaires regarding urinary, bowel, sexual and hormone therapy-related side effects of treatment. The JAMA study, published Jan. 23, builds upon previous publications of three-year and five-year results. 

Authoritative reference article on hallmarks of precancer published 

Ken Lau, PhD, and research colleagues have laid out the principles governing the biology of early, precancerous lesions, which are different from the principles that govern cancers. Their authoritative perspective was published in Cancer Discovery on April 4. A large body of research details how lifestyle factors can predispose a person to cancer initiation and development, but how those macroenvironmental risk factors are manifested in cells and molecules is poorly understood. The study sheds light on these points. 

Study reveals potential way to stop kidney cancer 

Clear cell renal cell carcinoma is the most common form of kidney cancer, diagnosed in about 76,000 people in the United States each year. If caught early, treatments such as immune checkpoint blockade (ICB) therapy can slow cancerous growth. Patients vary in their response to ICB therapy, and the mechanisms that determine responsiveness are not well understood. In a study led by Melissa Wolf, PhD, researchers have identified cancer cell-specific genetic alterations that reprogram the immune “landscape,” thereby driving tumor growth, and discovered a potential new drug target for stopping it. The paper was published April 15 in The Journal of Clinical Investigation. 

Study identifies molecule as potential target for treating AML 

While immune checkpoint inhibitors that target the PD-1 molecule on T cells have proven to be effective with many cancers, they have not worked for acute myeloid leukemia (AML), but new research has identified a “cousin” molecule as a potential therapeutic target for AML. The study, led by Tae Kon Kim, MD, PhD, was published Dec. 7, 2023, in The Journal of Clinical Investigation.