6-gene promoter methylation assay is potentially applicable for prostate cancer clinical staging based on urine collection following prostatic massage.

The detection of prostate cancer (PCa) biomarkers in bodily fluids, a process known as liquid biopsy, is a promising approach and particularly beneficial when performed in urine samples due to their maximal non-invasiveness requirement of collection. A number of gene panels proposed for this purpose have allowed discrimination between disease-free prostate and PCa; however, they bear no significant prognostic value. With the purpose to develop a gene panel for PCa diagnosis and prognosis, the methylation status of 17 cancer-associated genes were analyzed in urine cell-free DNA obtained from 31 patients with PCa and 33 control individuals using methylation-specific polymerase chain reaction (MSP).