Novel Epigenomic Liquid Biopsy Detects PSMA Expression in Prostate Cancer

Oct. 2, 2024 - UroToday

Dr. Berchuck explains how the assay analyzes cell-free DNA to infer tumor PSMA expression, showing strong correlation with PSMA PET scan results.

So today I'll be discussing an abstract that I presented at ESMO 2024 last week titled "Determination of Tumor PSMA Expression in Prostate Cancer from Blood Using a Novel Epigenomic Liquid Biopsy Platform." So the background for this study is with several therapeutic strategies for metastatic prostate cancer in development targeting an array of cell surface proteins beyond PSMA.

So the first question that we asked is: how well does this assay pick up relevant signal in the blood from men with metastatic prostate cancer? And we asked the question across the entire genome in these men with metastatic prostate cancer: which genes had the strongest signal that best correlated with PSMA PET SUV mean?..