New test being developed to help spot lethal prostate cancer

Gene test may help spot lethal prostate tumors: "CHICAGO (Reuters) - Prostate tumors with a distinctive four-gene 'signature' are far more lethal than others, laying the groundwork for a test to predict which tumors need aggressive treatment, U.S. researchers said on Wednesday.

"This would have 92 percent accuracy relative to what we currently have, which is at best 75 percent accuracy," said Dr. Ronald DePinho of Dana-Farber's Belfer Institute for Applied Cancer Science in Massachusetts.

DePinho said the results will make a big impact on how men are tested and treated for prostate cancer, the second most common cancer in men worldwide after lung cancer, killing 254,000 a year.

"The goal is to do this within about a year or maybe a bit longer than that," said DePinho, who has a stake in the company.

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