Laurence Klotz, MD, FRCSC, presented “The Sentinel Prostate Cancer Platform: Validation Studies” during the virtual 5th Global Summit on Precision Diagnosis and Treatment of Prostate Cancer in September 2021.
How to cite: Klotz, Laurence. “The Sentinel Prostate Cancer Platform: Validation Studies.” September 2021. Accessed Dec 2024. https://grandroundsinurology.com/the-sentinel-prostate-cancer-platform-validation-studies/
The Sentinel Prostate Cancer Platform: Validation Studies
Laurence Klotz, MD, Professor of Surgery at the University of Toronto and the Sunnybrook Chair of Prostate Cancer Research, discusses the Sentinel PCC4 assay for prostate cancer in detail and reviews data on its performance characteristics. He gives an overview of the Sentinel Prostate Disease Management Platform, explaining that it is based on an analysis of a large number of urinary exosomal small non-coding (snc)RNAs that have been found to be predictive of cancer and cancer stage. Dr. Klotz shows an electron microscopy of urinary microvesicles and overviews research that looked at the independent predictive value of around 10,000 different microRNA sequences and ranked them according to the likelihood of being associated with cancer being present or not. 442 of the sequences were selected for further analysis and are used as part of the Sentinel PCC4 assay. He then discusses initial Sentinel Assay data published in the Journal of Urology showing 98% specificity for detecting the presence or absence of cancer and 96% specificity for differentiating low-grade vs. high-grade cancer. This data raised the question of how Sentinel could predict the results of biopsy so well when biopsy does not correlate as closely with the extent and grade of cancer present. Dr. Klotz reviews a summary of the key validation data to date that reveals a specificity rate of 66%, with a 34% rate of false positives, and found that 52% of positive Sentinel assays for any cancer were followed by a negative biopsy. He suggests that this liquid biomarker test is superior to others and that the data is compelling. Dr. Klotz concludes that the Sentinel PCC4 sncRNA assay has high specificity and sensitivity, relatively speaking, and that further validation studies are ongoing.
The Virtual Global Summit on Precision Diagnosis and Treatment of Prostate Cancer brings together key international opinion leaders of every clinical subspecialty involved in patient care. This event is an integral part of the AdMeTech Foundation’s Annual Summit, which was established in 2016 and became seminal in shaping the state of the art and future vision for precision care. The goal of this event is three-fold: 1) Educating the key stakeholders; 2) Supporting a sustained cross-disciplinary dialogue and consensus on the best emerging clinical practices and research priorities; and 3) Expediting clinical adoption of promising novel diagnostics and therapeutics. For more educational activities from this virtual event, visit our collection page.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Laurence Klotz, MD, FRCSC, is a professor of surgery at the University of Toronto and the Sunnybrook Chair of Prostate Cancer Research. Dr. Klotz was the founding editor-in-chief of both the Canadian Journal of Urology and the Canadian Urology Association Journal (CUAJ), and he is now editor emeritus of the CUAJ. Dr. Klotz obtained his medical degree and completed his residency at the University of Toronto. He was also a uro-oncology fellow at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York.
Dr. Klotz has 550 peer review publications and eight books. He coined the phrase “active surveillance” and successfully championed this approach for men with favorable-risk prostate cancer against substantial resistance. He was the associate editor of the Journal of Urology, responsible for prostate cancer, for eight years. Dr. Klotz received the Queen’s Jubilee Medal for outstanding public service, the University of Toronto's Lister Prize, the Society of Urologic Oncology’s SUO Medal, the American Urological Association’s Richard Williams Award, the University of Toronto's Lifetime Achievement Award, the Canadian Urological Association Lifetime Achievement Award, and the Harold Warwick Award from the Canadian Cancer Society for “outstanding contributions to cancer control.” In 2015 he was inducted as a Member of the Order of Canada, Canada’s highest civilian award.
