Using sugars to diagnose aggressive prostate cancer

Grant information

Why did we fund this project?

• Prostate-specific antigen (PSA) is a protein produced by the prostate gland, and its levels can be measured using a PSA blood test
• The PSA blood test is used to help diagnose prostate cancer, but a raised PSA level does not always mean that cancer is present. It can also be difficult to know which prostate cancers are slow growing, and which cancers are aggressive and need urgent treatment.
• Prostate cancer is associated with changes to the sugars attached to the PSA protein, and specific types of PSA sugars have been linked to aggressive prostate cancer.

What did the team do?

• Professor Mendes and her team wanted to develop a new technology to detect the PSA sugars that are linked with aggressive cancer.  This could enable men to receive a more accurate diagnosis and help them make decisions about treatments.
• They designed tiny beads called nanoparticles with specifically shaped ‘pockets’ that can only bind to particular types of PSA sugars.

What did the team achieve?

• The team designed nanoparticles that specifically bind to the types of PSA sugars that are linked to aggressive prostate cancer.
• The nanoparticles emit a coloured light when they bind to the aggressive PSA sugars, and can now be created in large quantities at a low cost.
• The team are testing this new technology using samples from men with slow-growing or aggressive prostate cancer to see if the nanoparticles can accurately identify the more aggressive cancers.

What does this mean for men?

• The development of this new prostate cancer test could lead to a more accurate prostate cancer diagnosis.
• This would allow men with aggressive cancer to receive appropriate treatment, while men with slow-growing cancer could avoid the side effects of unnecessary treatments.