A ‘super test’ for prostate cancer is set to search for more than 100 signs of the disease.
The ‘truly game-changing’ test, welcomed by former Olympic cycling champion Sir Chris Hoy and hoped to be the most accurate tool yet for detecting the disease, will show if someone has prostate cancer and whether that cancer is slow-growing or aggressive.
It searches for biological markers of prostate cancer, including proteins and genes, which are analysed by an AI algorithm to produce a result.
Prostate cancer is the most common cancer in England, around one in eight men will get it within their lifetime, and more than 50,000 men in the UK are diagnosed every year.
There is no current screening for prostate cancer in healthy men because the PSA test used by doctors when men have symptoms, or on request, is not accurate enough.
The new test, used on blood and urine samples, looks for more than 100 biological markers of prostate cancer, which have been found to detect the disease when studied individually.
Scientists expect it to be 96 to 99 per cent accurate, based on this previous evidence.
The test was developed by EDX Medical Group, based at Cambridge Science Park, and is hoped to be launched, with regulatory approval, later this year or in early 2026.
A ‘super test’ for prostate cancer is set to search for more than 100 signs of the disease (stock image)
The ‘truly game-changing’ test was welcomed by former Olympic cycling champion Sir Chris Hoy (pictured) who announced in October that he had a terminal diagnosis for prostate cancer, after having been told in 2023 by doctors that he had two to four years to live
Professor Sir Chris Evans, the founder and chief scientific officer of EDX Medical, said: ‘We have been studying this area for 18 months and are tremendously excited by what we believe is a truly game-changing test.’
He added: ‘The incorporation of all these biomarkers into routine screening could revolutionise prostate cancer management by enabling earlier detection and more accurate risk prediction.’
Sir Chris Hoy, who announced in October that he had a terminal diagnosis for prostate cancer, after having been told in 2023 by doctors that he had two to four years to live, said: ‘Professor Sir Chris Evans and his team encouraged and supported me greatly after my initial diagnosis and I know they have some amazing people and a great commitment to finding better ways to diagnose and treat prostate and other cancers.
‘I now know there is a need for better and more accurate prostate cancer screening tests, and I wholeheartedly welcome this initiative.’
The Government is ‘looking carefully’ at introducing routine screening for prostate cancer, as technology advances, health minister Andrew Gwynne said earlier this month.
On the new test, Simon Grieveson, assistant director of research at Prostate Cancer UK, said: ‘In recent years we have seen several emerging tests in development which show great promise when it comes to the early detection of prostate cancer.
‘We very much welcome advancements that may lead to more accurate and earlier diagnoses, however, many of these tests are still very early in their development and require robust testing in clinical trials before we can know with any certainty just how useful they may be.
‘Early, and importantly, accurate, diagnosis could prevent up to 40 per cent of prostate cancer deaths – that’s thousands of lives each year.’
