Question

I've read about a new type blood test to detect nearly any form of cancer. It's called the AMAS test. A blood sample is screened for a substance called Anti-Malignan Antibody (AMAS).

I'm a 77 year in excellent health. I have a PSA level of 6.0 and a normal digital exam. I have to decide to have a prostate biopsy or continue watchful waiting.
 

Answer

Stephen B. Strum MD,an expert in the field of prostate cancer, has written:
 

New diagnostic tests that accurately detect cancer before it becomes clinically apparent are welcomed by all medical oncologists. When the AMAS test was being formally evaluated by the FDA in 1994 and 1995, I enthusiastically supported AMAS by offering blood samples from more than 40 patients in my medical practice for testing, the vast majority of whom had prostate cancer.
 

. . . we found the AMAS test to have a relatively high degree of specificity and positive predictive value (both 80%) in all of the patients that we evaluated. Dr. Avrum Bluming, another medical oncologist in Southern California, has done AMAS tests in over 60 patients in his practice. His data indicated a false positive rate of <5% and a false negative rate of approximately 7% for AMAS. Clearly, the AMAS test has demonstrated clinical usefulness for the diagnosis of cancer. Therefore, we ask how does AMAS improve upon or add to diagnostic or prognostic information for prostate cancer patients that can already be obtained by physicians using PSA and other diagnostic tools? For the moment, the answer is "we still don't know." However, we are currently working closely with Dr. Bogoch to answer these questions.
 

To definitively diagnose prostate cancer, PSA and certain other tumor markers should always be used in conjunction with a DRE (digital rectal examination) and TRUSP (trans-rectal ultrasound of the prostate) with needle biopsies. A single blood test result (PSA, AMAS or any other) should never be used alone to establish or refute the possible diagnosis of cancer. Research continues to decipher the relationships between the immune system and the onset and growth of cancer cells. In the near future, more specific immunologic treatments will be discovered that will likely be more effective than AMAS to diagnose and treat human cancers.
 

Based on the above, we think it likely that you will choose to have a biopsy. To read information on the AMAS test click these links below.

Related Links
Prostate Health Resources
Cancer research UK: AMAS test