Prostate-Specific antigen: An overview and its current status in the diagnosis of prostate cancer

• Main Authors: Siddalingeshwar Neeli, Manas Sharma, Abhijit Musale
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Wolters Kluwer Medknow Publications 2021-01-01
• Series: Indian Journal of Health Sciences and Biomedical Research KLEU
• Subjects: prostate cancer; prostate specific antigen; screening; tumor marker
• Online Access: http://www.ijournalhs.org/article.asp?issn=2542-6214;year=2021;volume=14;issue=1;spage=22;epage=30;aulast=Neeli

Prostate-Specific Antigen (PSA), which has high organ specificity and poor cancer specificity, has been widely utilized for the diagnosis and treatment of prostate cancer; though it is not an ideal tumor marker. Its extensive usage in screening programs has resulted in a large number of unwanted biopsies, over-diagnosis and over-treatment of indolent cancers as well. Hence, various PSA derivatives and PSA-based tests have evolved to improve the accuracy of prostate cancer diagnosis. This article provides an overview of PSA and PSA-based biomarkers and their current role in the screening and diagnosis of prostate cancer.