Molecular Biomarkers in Localized Prostate Cancer

Prostate cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer in men in the United States (~174,650 in 2019), nearly 20% of all new cancers, and the second leading cause of cancer-related death (~31,620 in 2019).

At diagnosis, there is a diverse spectrum of clinical course ranging from indolent features with a negligible likelihood of morbidity or mortality to characteristics reflecting near certitude of eventual metastases and cancer-specific death.

Predicting future clinical behavior is imperfect but constitutes the foundation of physician counseling and patient management decisions.

• By utilizing additional biopsy data (e.g., total number or percent of positive cores), more nuanced risk stratification can be achieved (e.g., CAPRA score, nomograms [https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2242430/figure/F1/]).

A variety of molecular biomarkers have been developed, evaluated, and commercialized with an overarching aim to further personalize risk stratification, more comprehensively inform management decisions, and consequently improve quality of care.