Polaris Prostate Cancer Test

 

Has anyone taken or seriously considered taking the Polaris Prostate Cancer Gene Test. The new genetic test can gauge the aggressiveness  of prostate cancer . This is the same type of test that has been available to Breast Cancer patients for several years now and has been in the news recently.  The cost of the test is about $3,500.  Myself being on Active Surveillance the results of the test would tell me wether to continue or not.  If anyone has any information, thoughts or comments I would love to hear them. I

Comments

  • VascodaGama
    VascodaGama Member Posts: 3,638 Member
    Polaris for AS guys

    This is a new way to look for aggressivity. The test also helps in finding the best drug that most effectively would target the type of cells forming the tumour.

    Here is a thread from Hopeful talking about Polaris. You may drop him a mail in this forum;
    http://csn.cancer.org/node/260714

    VG

  • hopeful and optimistic
    hopeful and optimistic Member Posts: 2,339 Member

    Polaris for AS guys

    This is a new way to look for aggressivity. The test also helps in finding the best drug that most effectively would target the type of cells forming the tumour.

    Here is a thread from Hopeful talking about Polaris. You may drop him a mail in this forum;
    http://csn.cancer.org/node/260714

    VG

    Also see

    http://csn.cancer.org/node/258742

     

    The name of the other major company that does this gene test for prostate cancer is genomic health.

    These tests can be very useful, however in many cases it is not needed since looking a t the number of cores involved, gleason, involvement, etc. are adeuate to make a decision.

     

  • jerseyguy891
    jerseyguy891 Member Posts: 18
    Polaris Prostate Cancer Test

    Can this genetic test identify if there is a more aggressive cancer lurking that is not picked up by the biopsy?

  • hopeful and optimistic
    hopeful and optimistic Member Posts: 2,339 Member

    Polaris Prostate Cancer Test

    Can this genetic test identify if there is a more aggressive cancer lurking that is not picked up by the biopsy?

    There are about ten or twelve

    There are about ten or twelve companies that do a genetic test; the two main ones are Prolaris by Myraid and Genomic Health oncotype DX. These tests analyze the results of the biopsy to selected gene tests in the tumor tissue, and will show if the cancer is less aggressive or more..It does not analyze potential tumors not biopsied.

    You can go their respective web sites for more detailed information

    I have had the Genomic Health oncotype DX

    These are my results:

    ...Genomic Health oncotype DX low risk patient, likelihood of favorable pathology 74%, freedom from high grade disease 84%, freedom from non organ confined disease 80% ...Oncotype DX uses rt-pcr to determine the expression of 17 genes in tumor tissue. Oncotype DX is calculated from the gene expression results and ranges from 0 to 100. My Gleason Score was 6,  PSA less than 10 and clinical stage T1-T2A. Go to About me to find out more details.

     

    The criteria for the Genomic test is based on a prospectively-designed validation study of biopsy tissue form 388 patients with localized prostate cancer meeting the NCCN Very Low, Low and Intermediate risk criteria.