NEW YORK – Myriad Genetics is partnering with the University of Leeds Center for Personalized Medicine and Health (LCPMH) to conduct a clinical utility study of the Prolaris prostate cancer test.
Prolaris analyzes the expression of 31 cell cycle genes, and may be combined with prostate specific antigen testing and Gleason score to gauge the aggressiveness of a patient's prostate cancer over the next decade.
The 100-participant study will evaluate how Prolaris impacts doctors' and patients' decisions about treatment, and how those decisions impact healthcare costs within the UK's National Health Service. In a statement, Myriad noted, for example, that a man who learns he is at low risk for aggressive prostate cancer according to Prolaris may decide to delay having surgery or radiotherapy, which are costly interventions and associated with adverse events, such as erectile dysfunction.
The LCPMH designed the clinical utility study with the Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, the Leeds Institute of Health Sciences, and the University of Leeds.
"This study will explore how healthcare professionals and their patients react to being given more personalized information than usual tests can give about risk," Mike Messenger, head of LCPMH, said in a statement. "We want to understand whether the Prolaris test results influence what they decide to do next, and if so why and in what way."