title: Contemporary role of prostate cancer antigen 3 in the management of prostate cancer.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Newly discovered biomarkers ideally should prove clinical usefulness, provide additional detection, staging, and prognosis information to improve individual risk assessment, and potentially permit targeted cancer therapy.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To review, display, and evaluate the current evidence regarding the biologic and analytic approach of urinary prostate cancer gene 3 (PCA3) in prostate cancer (PCa) detection, staging, and prognosis, and its therapeutic potential.
  
  
  METHODS
  A systematic and comprehensive Medline search was performed using the Medical Subject Headings search terms PCA3, DD3, UPM3, prostate cancer, cell-lines, prostate tissue, prostate biopsy, detection, diagnosis, radical prostatectomy, staging, grading, progression, and gene therapy. Results were restricted to English-language papers published within the period 1999-2011.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The PCA3 gene is highly overexpressed in specific PCa cell lines and prostatic tumours. In 2006, a simple and robust urine test (Progensa) became commercially available. Despite its costs, prostate cancer antigen 3 (PCA3) is superior to prostate-specific antigen (PSA) and percent free PSA in the early detection of PCa. PCA3 improves the diagnostic accuracy of externally validated nomograms among men with an elevated PSA undergoing biopsy. PCA3 independently predicts low-volume disease and pathologically insignificant PCa but is not associated with locally advanced disease and is limited in the prediction of aggressive cancer. Preliminary data demonstrate that combining PCA3 with other new biomarkers further improves diagnostic and prognostic accuracy. Finally, findings of the first PCA3-Gene-ViroTherapy study suggest therapeutic potential by exploiting PCA3 overexpression.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  PCA3, integrated in novel biopsy nomograms or risk stratification tools, can be used to counsel or confirm biopsy indications. If confirmed in further studies, using PCA3 together with established staging risk factors could assist clinicians in specific pretreatment decision making. So far no evidence for the usefulness of PCA3 in active surveillance programs has been presented.
authors.affiliation: Department of Urology, Medical University of Graz, Graz, Austria. marco.auprich@medunigraz.at
authors.forename: Marco
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Auprich
authors.forename: Anders
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bjartell
authors.forename: Felix K-H
authors.initials: FK
authors.lastname: Chun
authors.forename: Alexandre
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: de la Taille
authors.forename: Stephen J
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Freedland
authors.forename: Alexander
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Haese
authors.forename: Jack
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Schalken
authors.forename: Arnulf
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Stenzl
authors.forename: Bertrand
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Tombal
authors.forename: Henk
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: van der Poel
mesh_terms: D000951:Antigens, Neoplasm / Q000235:genetics / Q000652:urine*; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000235:genetics / Q000652:urine*; D001706:Biopsy; D003661:Decision Support Techniques; D055088:Early Detection of Cancer; D019317:Evidence-Based Medicine; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D018579:Patient Selection; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D011379:Prognosis; D011471:Prostatic Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000235:genetics / Q000473:pathology / Q000628:therapy / Q000652:urine*; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012307:Risk Factors
chemical_list: D000951:Antigens, Neoplasm; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; C479341:prostate cancer antigen 3, human