Measurement of insulin-like growth factor axis does not enhance specificity of PSA-based prostate cancer screening.
OBJECTIVE
To examine whether measurement of insulin-like growth factor (IGF)-I, IGF-II, IGF binding protein (IGFBP)-2 or IGFBP-3, alone or in combination, enhanced the specificity of prostate cancer detection among men with a prostate-specific antigen (PSA) level of 3 ng/mL or greater beyond that achieved by the free/total PSA index.


METHODS
Cross-sectional analysis was performed on blood samples taken from 597 asymptomatic men (79% of those biopsied) participating in a community case-finding exercise. All men had a total PSA level of 3 ng/mL or greater and had undergone prostate biopsy. Assays of IGF-I, IGF-II, IGFBP-2, IGFBP-3, and free and total PSA were performed. The predictive performance of a range of measures was assessed using receiver operating characteristic analyses and compared with the free/total PSA index, for all biopsies and for men with a PSA level of 3 to 10 ng/mL. The overall test performance was summarized using the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC).


RESULTS
Of the 597 men, 185 (31.0%) had prostate cancer identified at biopsy. When all biopsies were included, the performance of the free/total PSA index (AUC 0.73) was significantly greater than for IGF-I (AUC 0.59; P <0.0001), IGF-I/PSA ratio (AUC 0.65; P = 0.002), IGF-I + IGFBP-3 (AUC 0.59; P <0.0001), IGF-II (AUC 0.66; P = 0.002), and IGF-II + IGFBP-3 (AUC 0.67; P = 0.05). The combined measurement of free/total PSA, IGF-II, and IGFBP-3 resulted in a slight improvement in performance (AUC 0.76; P = 0.01). The results were similar when the analyses were restricted to men with an initial PSA level of 3 to 10 ng/mL.


CONCLUSIONS
We found no evidence that measurement of the IGF axis enhances the specificity of prostate cancer detection in clinical practice beyond that achievable using the free/total PSA index.
Department of Health Sciences, University of York and Hull York Medical School, York, United Kingdom.
Steven E
SE
Oliver
Jeff
J
Holly
Tim J
TJ
Peters
Jenny
J
Donovan
Raj
R
Persad
David
D
Gillatt
Anya
A
Pearce
Freddie C
FC
Hamdy
David E
DE
Neal
David
D
Gunnell
D000230:Adenocarcinoma / Q000097:blood*; D000368:Aged; D019540:Area Under Curve; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000097:blood*; D015331:Cohort Studies; D006801:Humans; D018972:Insulin-Like Growth Factor Binding Protein 3 / Q000097:blood*; D007334:Insulin-Like Growth Factor I / Q000032:analysis*; D007335:Insulin-Like Growth Factor II / Q000032:analysis*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009363:Neoplasm Proteins / Q000097:blood*; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D017430:Prostate-Specific Antigen / Q000097:blood*; D011471:Prostatic Neoplasms / Q000097:blood*; D012372:ROC Curve; D016032:Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity
D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; D018972:Insulin-Like Growth Factor Binding Protein 3; D009363:Neoplasm Proteins; D007334:Insulin-Like Growth Factor I; D007335:Insulin-Like Growth Factor II; D017430:Prostate-Specific Antigen