Prostate Cancer Antigen-3 and Human Kallekrein-2 as Diagnostic Biomarkers for Prostate Cancer

Background: Compared to nearby normal or benign tissues, Prostate cancer antigen-3 (PCA3) is significantly overexpressed in cancerous prostatic tissues. This biomarker has potential use in targeted treatment and clinical diagnostics.
Objective: To evaluate the role of PCA3 and human glandular kallikrein 2 (hk2) as diagnostic markers in prostatic cancer cases.
Subjects and methods: This study included one-hundred patients who were divided into 2 groups: fifty patients with benign prostatic hyperplasia and fifty patients with PC in addition to fifty healthy subjects as a control group. All were exposed to a thorough history, clinical examination, and detection of total PSA, free PSA, real-time PCR for PCA3, and hK2 mRNA.
Results: The cancer group had considerably greater PCA3 and hK2 levels compared to the BPH and control groups (P<0.001). The optimal PCA3 threshold for diagnosing PC was 6.1, with an area under curve of 0.954, sensitivity of 92%, specificity of 96%, positive predictive value of 95.8%, negative predictive value of 92.3%, and overall accuracy of 94% (P<0.001). The optimal cutoff for hK2 RQ to diagnosis PC was 3.2, with an area under curve of 0.874, sensitivity of 84%, specificity of 72%, positive predictive value of 75%, negative predictive value of 18.2%, and overall accuracy of 78% (P<0.001).
Conclusion: PCA3 is a potential biomarker and noninvasive test for PC diagnosis since it has higher diagnostic specificity and sensitivity than hK2 and PSA. It can be used either by itself or in conjunction with total PSA to diagnose PC.