Australian company develops semen test for prostate cancer (AFP)

SYDNEY (AFP) - An Australian biotechnology company announced plans to develop a diagnostic kit for prostate cancer that would do away with invasive testing.

Proteome Systems Ltd had signed a deal with US cancer diagnostic firm Egenix Inc to develop a test to identify the presence in semen of the human carcinoma antigen (HCA), an indicator of cancer.

Chief executive officer of Proteome, Stephen Porges, said the test could be ready for use in one to two years and would be more accurate than current testing for prostate cancer, which was often misleading.

Current testing usually involved a blood test for a prostate-specific antigen which was also found when the prostate was enlarged or infected.

"For a cancer which is the most significant cancer in the male population, it's just appallingly misdiagnosed," Porges said.

He said research showed that testing for HCA in semen had a high success rate in detecting cancer and a lower false positive rate than current testing.

Egenix president Jedd Levine said the company initially wondered whether men would object to providing semen for the test.

"But it's common to look in organ secretions for signs of cancer in that organ ... and most men would willingly provide a semen specimen to potentially avoid a painful needle biopsy," he said in a statement.

Many pharmaceutical companies are looking for valid biomarkers, proteins or genetic material such as HCA, which are often early indicators of cancers, as they develop cancer tests.