Agency News and Notes

AHRQ reviews evidence on multigene panels for prostate cancer risk assessment

Evidence is currently insufficient to conclude whether single nucleotide polymorphism-based (SNP) panels perform adequately as screening or risk-stratification tools to genetically assess whether a man is at increased risk for prostate cancer, concludes a new review. The evidence review was conducted by the McMaster University Evidence-based Practice Center in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, with support from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ). The review was conducted to address questions about the accuracy of prostate-specific antigen screening (PSA) in asymptomatic men, the difficulty of determining prognosis in many affected men, and the lack of clarity on the utility of different therapeutic approaches.

Given the issues with PSA testing, SNP panels were seen as possible substitutes for or as a supplement to PSA screening. Prostate cancer, one of the most common types of cancer, led to more than 36,000 deaths among men in North America in 2010.

For the executive summary and full evidence report, Multigene Panels in Prostate Cancer Risk Assessment, go to http://www.ahrq.gov/clinic/tp/mgenprcatp.htm.

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