Prostate cancer spit test could save the NHS £500 million a year

Thousands of men could have their prostate cancer diagnosed at an earlier stage when it is easier and cheaper to treat, thanks to a new spit test which can be taken at home.

An innovative new study launched this week, led by researchers at The Institute of Cancer Research, London, is looking at whether the saliva test can speed up prostate cancer diagnoses and save the NHS money.

In the coming year, more than 52,000 people will be diagnosed with prostate cancer. Up to one in four of these will be diagnosed at a later stage, requiring more extensive treatments which cost the NHS around £650 million*.

The team estimates that their saliva test could identify up to 12,350 people earlier, saving the NHS around £500 million a year and saving lives.

The research team have developed the test which calculates the risk of prostate cancer from DNA extracted from saliva – called a genetic risk score. GPs will offer the test to their patients, and those identified as higher risk will be offered prostate cancer checks.

The £2 million study, funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Invention for Innovation (i4i) Early Cancer Diagnosis Clinical Validation and Evaluation, aims to pick up more people with prostate cancer at an earlier stage – when it is more treatable. 

Recent research from the same team showed that a simple saliva test was more accurate at identifying future risk of prostate cancer for men at higher-risk than the current standard blood test, which measures levels of a protein called prostate-specific antigen (PSA).

Now, they have developed an updated version of the test, called PRODICT^TM, which looks for more genetic variants that indicate cancer than the original test – more than 400 genetic variants, which are both commonly occurring and rare.

The study aims to recruit 1,000 people with prostate glands – men, non-binary people and trans women – from diverse ethnic groups, aged between 40 and 55 years.

The original saliva test could only be used for people of European ancestry as the genetic data weren’t available for men of Asian, African, or Black African-Caribbean ancestry, despite Black men being twice as likely to develop the disease.

The team at The Institute of Cancer Research (ICR) will follow the participants for three years to see if they develop prostate cancer and assess if these cancers are picked up earlier than usual. They will also evaluate whether the test is cost-effective, and any barriers to implementing it into primary care.

Professor Ros Eeles, Professor of Oncogenetics at The Institute of Cancer Research, London, and Consultant in Clinical Oncology and Cancer Genetics at The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust, said:

“With our simple to collect, at-home, spit test, we hope not only to extend the lives of people diagnosed with prostate cancer, but also to save the NHS a significant amount of money.

“Too many men are diagnosed with prostate cancer at a late stage, when it is less likely to be curable and requires intensive, expensive, treatment. We desperately need a screening programme for prostate cancer that picks up the men at risk of aggressive cancers who need further tests, but spares the men who are at lower risk from unnecessary treatments.

“In men of European heritage, we’ve shown that identifying men at higher risk due to their genetic makeup is an effective tool to catch the cancer early. Now, we’re excited to be able to roll out our test to diverse populations – as Black men are twice as likely to develop prostate cancer – and younger groups, as those with a genetic predisposition are more likely to be diagnosed at younger ages.

“If our PRODICT^TM test is successful, it could revolutionise healthcare as the first of many saliva tests provided to patients in primary care for a range of diseases, identifying people who will need further treatments by looking for variants in their DNA.”

Dr Zsofia Kote-Jarai, Senior Scientist at The Institute of Cancer Research, London, who developed the PRODICT^TM test, said:

“We have uncovered hundreds of rare and common genetic variants that are linked to prostate cancer – some of these are linked specifically to aggressive disease, and some are found only in men with African ancestry.

“Putting these pieces of the jigsaw together, we now have a much better picture of the genetic causes of prostate cancer – and we’ve developed a relatively simple and cheap test to identify those at higher risk.

“I hope that our PRODICT^TM test will play an important role in reducing health inequalities men face, as Black men are twice as likely to develop prostate cancer but are too often diagnosed later.”

The OLS Cancer Programme Chair and NHS England National Clinical Director for Cancer, Professor Peter Johnson, said:

"We know that if we are to improve people’s chances of overcoming cancer we need to find better ways to detect and diagnose it as early as possible. The UK Government’s Cancer Programme, delivered by OLS, is investing in a range of promising technologies to expand our research in this field.  The projects we are funding with the NIHR will accelerate the progress from the laboratory into clinical testing, to make sure the UK is exploring all the potential in our Life Sciences sector to help patients and support new inventions."

* Cost calculations are based on data presented at the NCRI conference in Liverpool in 2012, from the University of Oxford. The total annual economic cost of prostate cancer was calculated to be 0.8billion in the UK: https://www.ox.ac.uk/news/2012-11-07-cancer-costs-uk-economy-%C2%A3158bn-year

1. Access images of the saliva test [credit Dr Zsofia Kote-Jarai, The Institute of Cancer, London] via this link: https://we.tl/t-A1qpKAhuX2 

For more information please contact Gaby Richter in the ICR press office on 0203 437 3502 or mediaoffice@icr.ac.uk. For enquiries out of hours, please call 07595 963 613.

The Institute of Cancer Research, London, is one of the world's most influential cancer research organisations.

Scientists and clinicians at The Institute of Cancer Research (ICR) are working every day to make a real impact on cancer patients' lives. Through its unique partnership with The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust and 'bench-to-bedside' approach, the ICR is able to create and deliver results in a way that other institutions cannot. Together the two organisations are rated in the top four centres for cancer research and treatment globally.

The ICR has an outstanding record of achievement dating back more than 100 years. It provided the first convincing evidence that DNA damage is the basic cause of cancer, laying the foundation for the now universally accepted idea that cancer is a genetic disease. Today it is a world leader at identifying cancer-related genes and discovering new targeted drugs for personalised cancer treatment.

The ICR is a charity and relies on support from partner organisations, funders and the general public. A member institution of the University of London, it is one of the UK’s leading higher education institutions, placing first for biological sciences and second overall in the definitive ‘REF2021’ rankings of UK university research quality, impact and environment, and provides postgraduate higher education of international distinction.

The ICR's mission is to make the discoveries that defeat cancer.