Primetime Living 2.22.26 - Flipbook - Page 8
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A Special Advertising Section of Baltimore Sun Media Group | Sunday, February 22, 2026
HEALTH
Potential Game
Changer
A new diagnostic test
accurately identifies
prostate cancer
By Margit B. Weisgal, Contributing Writer
Ranjan Perera, Ph.D.
O
ther than skin cancer, prostate cancer is the most common cancer in men in the
United States, according to the American Cancer Society. As men age, the odds
of getting prostate cancer increase. However, more men will die with prostate
cancer than from it, because some prostate cancers never become life-threatening.
That’s why regular check-ups are important.
“Prostate cancer is a
life-threatening issue for
men; it happens every
day. The more you
know, the better your
chances are of dealing
with it if the worst were
to happen.”
— Tristan Wilds,
actor, singer-songwriter,
and record producer
Today, there is a novel method to test
for prostate cancer using biomarkers
present in urine, a streamlined process
that is more accurate and less invasive, thanks to researchers at the Johns
Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center, Johns
Hopkins All Children’s Hospital, and
four other institutions, and funded in
part by the National Institutes of Health.
When I first wrote about prostate
cancer in 2016, screening for prostate
cancer started with a PSA test (prostate
specific antigen) and a digital rectal
exam (DRE). If the first was in a normal
range and the physical exam also went
well, then that was it until the next year.
However, if the results were questionable, the patient would require a
prostate biopsy. That involved sticking
a needle into the prostate multiple times
to extract samples to test if cancer
was present. The procedure is painful
and can cause physical post-operative
problems for the patient, such as infections called prostatitis.
“Unfortunately,” says senior study
author Ranjan Perera, Ph.D., director
of the Center for RNA Biology at Johns
Hopkins All Children’s Hospital in St.
Petersburg, Florida, and a professor of
oncology and neurosurgery at the Johns
Hopkins University School of Medicine,
“the PSA test is not very specific, so
prostate biopsies are often needed to
confirm a diagnosis of prostate cancer. In many cases, these biopsies are
negative and can result in unintended
complications. PSA tests also can lead
to unnecessary treatment for low-grade
prostate cancers that are very unlikely
to grow and spread. If it’s positive, then
the physician must test for the type of
prostate cancer: slow moving or malignant.”
Perera spoke about their process
and the ensuing benefits this new test
will provide. “Our goal was to find a
non-invasive test that could be used
in a clinical setting and was definitive.
Improvements in imaging have reduced
the number of pokes made during prostate biopsies, but they don’t distinguish
patients with prostate cancer from
those with BPH (benign prostatic hyperplasia), a noncancerous increase in the
size of the prostate in middle-aged and
elderly men. It can have symptoms that
mimic prostate cancer. Pokes were still
required. And we were back to where
we started.
“Each year, over 35 million PSA tests
are done and thousands of prostate
biopsies. Both of these diagnostic tests
are too inexact. We worked with Dr.
Vipul Patel, M.D., an expert in prostatectomies (removal of part or all of a
prostate), to help define what our test
must show. We collected urine from
prostate cancer patients with confirmed
diagnoses of prostate cancer prior to
their undergoing surgery to remove the
Prostate Cancer
Continued on page 23
