The Daily News – July 14, 2025

Here’s the question for the day. Would more men catch prostate cancer early? If all we had to do was spit? Well, a new at-home saliva test may outperform the standard screening blood test and could change how prostate cancer is found and treated. Now, what makes this test so promising is how well it identifies the specific cancers that matter most. In a UK study published in the New England Journal of Medicine, more than half of the cancers that found were aggressive compared to just over a third detected through PSA testing. Researchers at the Institute of Cancer Research in London developed the test, which analyzes 130 genetic variants to calculate a polygenic risk score or PRS. It’s designed to identify men at higher risk of developing prostate cancer based on their DNA. So why should you care? Well, prostate cancer is the most common cancer among Canadian men. In fact, about one in eight men will be diagnosed with it in their lifetime. Yet Canada doesn’t offer routine PSA screening largely because the test isn’t reliable enough and can lead to unnecessary treatments. This new DNA based test could help solve that problem. It offers a more precise way to identify men at higher risk, meaning earlier detection, fewer unnecessary procedures, and better overall outcomes. In a trial involving over 6,000 men, age 55 to 69, those with the highest genetic risk scores were invited for follow-up testing. Of those 40% were diagnosed with prostate cancer, many with aggressive forms that otherwise might have gone unnoticed. And by comparison, the standard PSA test gives false positives about 75% of the time, and often flags slow growing cancers that are unlikely to ever become dangerous. So that can lead to unnecessary MRIs, painful biopsies, and treatments with side effects like urinary incontinence and sexual dysfunction. The professor who led the study called the findings a potential turning point, she said, we have shown that a relatively simple, inexpensive spit test to identify men of European heritage at higher risk due to their genetic makeup is an effective tool to catch prostate cancer early. So is this saliva test available in Canada? Well, not yet. The test was developed and trialed in the UK and is still in the research phase. If larger studies continue to show strong results, similar genetic tests could eventually be adopted or approved here. So the question remains, would you take a genetic saliva test to better understand your cancer risk? Well, would love to hear your thoughts in the comments and share this story with someone who might benefit. Of course, if you found this information helpful, don’t forget to like, subscribe, and hit that notification bell for more updates. As always, thank you so much for joining us on the Daily News.