Predicting the Diagnosis of Prostate Cancer with a Novel Blood-Based Biomarker: Comparison of Its Performance with Prostate-Specific Antigen.

The purpose of this study was to assess the efficacy, specificity, and predictive value of a newly discovered biomarker, Zinc finger-like1 protein (referred to as neuroendocrine marker, NEM) for the detection of prostate cancer (PCa). We retrospectively analyzed banked plasma samples from 508 men, with a median age of 67 years (range 48-97), to compare the performance of NEM and PSA in predicting subsequent histologic PCa. The cohort consisted of four groups of patients visiting a urology clinic: (1) patients not diagnosed with either benign prostatic disease or prostate cancer (PCa) were defined as normal; (2) patients diagnosed with benign hyperplasia (BPH) but not PCa; (3) patients with confirmed PCa; and (4) patients with cancer other than PCa.