CURRENT prostate cancer tests are largely unreliable. Accuracy rates for blood tests for the condition can be as low as 30 per cent.
It means some men are told they have the disease when they don't.
And worse still, those who are given the all clear may have the illness – leading to long and in some cases life-threatening delays.
But scientists at the John van Geest Cancer Research Centre at Nottingham Trent University are hoping to come up with a new, much more accurate test.
They are aiming to identify new molecules in blood and urine samples which will hold the key to improving the diagnosis.
They are one-third of the way through a joint study which is testing samples from 200 men who have been sent to Leicester General Hospital because they might have prostate cancer.
The aim of the study is to find features in the blood which can more accurately indicate the presence of prostate cancer and its severity.
The current prostate specific antigen (PSA) blood tests are unable to check the whole prostate, whereas it is hoped the new tests will.
A team of eight scientists are spending most of their working time on the three-year study, which Professor Robert Rees hopes will have huge implications.
They are also looking to develop a vaccine to help treat and prolong the lives of patients with advanced forms of the disease.
Mr Rees said: "It is essential that we generate new insights into prostate cancer and in order to do that we need to determine new bio-markers.
"Current tests cannot check the whole of the prostate gland. Right now we have not got the ability to sample all of the prostate.
"People can go to a clinic with the more advanced disease and be told there is nothing wrong with them.
"More accurate evidence will result in more informed diagnosis, earlier and more appropriate treatment, and more efficient use of NHS resources.
"Our ultimate aim is to save the lives of patients by getting them treated earlier."
The study, partly funded by the Healthcare and Bioscience iNET project run by the European Regional Development Fund, is costing £1.1 million.
Speaking about the blood and urine tests, Mr Rees said: "This will be a very accurate diagnosis. But it is very early days at the moment."
Currently in Notts, 172 men die each year from prostate cancer.
Stewart Robinson, chairman of the Nottingham Prostate Cancer Support Group, who has suffered from the disease himself, said: "Any research into improving the diagnosis is to be welcomed.
"If it leads to an accurate test then it can potentially save thousands of lives as there are really good survival rates among people who have been diagnosed early on."
Work on a new vaccine at the centre is also progressing to a second trial stage.
It is hoped this will help people at advanced stage of the disease, like Hugh Gunn.
Mr Gunn, of the Prostate Cancer Support Federation, said: "The research being carried out by the John van Geest Cancer Research Centre is of great value to patients.
"The need for vaccine and immuno-therapy treatments that are affordable, unlike those currently available, is huge, especially to advanced prostate cancer patients.
"As biopsies carry a significant risk of infection, so there is also a big need for alternative diagnostic methods, which could also recognise between aggressive and non-aggressive cancers."
