Michael Brawer, MD, vice president of medical affairs, Myriad Genetic Laboratories, discusses the results of the Prolaris genetic test in predicting prostate cancer aggressiveness in African-American men.  

It has been known for a long time that African-American men not only have more prostate cancer, but also have worse prostate cancer for reasons that are still unknown, states Brawer. 

Ongoing studies are attempting to determine if there are biological differences that cause this increase in cancer, explains Brawer. 

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Michael Brawer, MD, vice president of medical affairs, Myriad Genetic Laboratories, discusses the results of the Prolaris genetic test in predicting prostate cancer aggressiveness in African-American men. 

Dr. Brawer on the Results of the Prolaris Test for Patients Prostate Cancer

Michael Brawer, MD, vice president of medical affairs, Myriad Genetic Laboratories, discusses the significance of the Prolaris genetic test in predicting prostate cancer aggressiveness in African-American men. 

This was significant because we are moving more towards the utilization of active surveillance in the United States, explains Brawer. With the statistics involving African Americans, it is important to know whether tests are reliable. With respect to Prolaris, it was necessary to determine if the test worked for all patient populations, states Brawer.  

Michael Brawer, MD, vice president of medical affairs, Myriad Genetic Laboratories, discusses the significance of the Prolaris genetic test in predicting prostate cancer aggressiveness in African-American men.

Dr. Brawer on the Significance of the Prolaris Genetic Test for Prostate

Michael Brawer, MD, vice president of Medical Affairs, Myriad Genetic Laboratories, discusses the Prolaris genetic test in predicting prostate cancer aggressiveness in African-American men.

According to Brawer, African Americans have the highest rate of prostate cancer in the world and tend to present with more aggressive cancer.

The Prolaris test is done on the diagnostic biopsy and has been shown to provide a much more precise risk assessment as to the risk of biochemical recurrence, the development of metastases, or disease-specific mortality. This test has been shown to work across all risk groups, explains Brawer.

Dr. Brawer on the Prolaris Genetic Test in Predicting Prostate Cancer Aggressiveness

Michael Brawer, MD, vice president of Medical Affairs, Myriad Genetic Laboratories, discusses the clinical utility of the cell cycle progression (CCP) test in personalizing prostate cancer treatment.

Brawer discusses a study which aimed to answer how practitioners would treat patients prior to and after receiving their Prolaris test results, as well as after discussing the results with patients. The analysis examined 1200 men with prostate cancer in 30 states; 130 clinicians participated who were experienced with administering the Prolaris test. In 48% of cases enrolled in the study, it was demonstrated that treatment management changed after receiving Prolaris test results. Nearly 75% of changes were a reduction in the intensity of therapy, he explains.

For example, a practitioner may have been planning to treat a patient with a radical prostatecomy, but discovers that their Prolaris test results are lower than expected. Therefore, the patient is able to go on active surveillance, Brawer says.

This study shows that a percentage of clinicians used the Prolaris test results to make changes in a patient's treatment plan.

View more from the 2015 AUA Annual Meeting

Michael Brawer, MD, vice president of Medical Affairs, Myriad Genetic Laboratories, discusses the clinical utility of the cell cycle progression (CCP) test in personalizing prostate cancer treatment. 

Dr. Brawer on Clinical Utility of CCP Test in Prostate Cancer

Michael Brawer, MD, vice president, Medical Affairs, Myriad Genetics, discusses a study that looked at predicting radical prostatectomy outcomes.

This study looked to answer the question as to whether grade is as important of a predictive tool as it has been in the past. Patients with gleason score (GS) <7 were analyzed. Their initial GS were compared with their score on radical prostatectomy.

The results of this study indicate that the risk of biochemical recurrence is indistinguishable in men with GS <7 who have pathologic GS 3+4 or 4+3. The Prolaris test does provide stratification of this risk.

Michael Brawer, MD

Articles

Dr. Brawer on the Results of the Prolaris Test for Patients Prostate Cancer

Dr. Brawer on the Significance of the Prolaris Genetic Test for Prostate

Dr. Brawer on the Prolaris Genetic Test in Predicting Prostate Cancer Aggressiveness

Dr. Brawer on Clinical Utility of CCP Test in Prostate Cancer

Dr. Brawer on Predicting Radical Prostatectomy Outcomes