Nikhil Prasad Fact checked by:Thailand Medical News Team Feb 25, 2026 1 hour, 50 minutes ago
Medical News: Prostate cancer is now one of the fastest rising cancers among men worldwide, and scientists in China have outlined why a molecule called prostate-specific membrane antigen, or PSMA, is transforming how this disease is detected and treated. Researchers from the Department of Radiology and Department of Urology at Beijing Friendship Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing; the Department of Radiology at Beijing Tiantan Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing; the Department of Surgery at Hebei Medical University, Shijiazhuang; and the Institute of Urology, Beijing Municipal Health Commission, Beijing, have published an extensive review detailing how PSMA is changing modern prostate cancer care.
PSMA-based imaging and targeted therapies are dramatically improving detection, surgical precision,
and survival in prostate cancer patients
Why PSMA is so Important
PSMA is a protein found at very low levels in normal tissues but is highly overexpressed in prostate cancer cells, especially aggressive and metastatic forms. Studies show that patients with high PSMA expression have significantly poorer outcomes. In fact, men with elevated PSMA levels face more than four times the risk of cancer recurrence after surgery compared to those with low expression. Higher PSMA levels are also linked to higher Gleason scores and more advanced disease.
Superior Cancer Detection
Traditional PSA blood testing often lacks specificity, especially when levels fall into the gray zone between 4 and 10 ng/mL, leading to unnecessary biopsies. PSMA PET/CT imaging has dramatically improved accuracy.
Using tracers such as 68Ga-PSMA-11, detection of clinically significant prostate cancer achieved sensitivity rates of 88 percent and negative predictive values of 81 percent, outperforming MRI alone. Patients with the highest imaging scores showed a 100 percent detection rate of aggressive disease.
Another tracer, 18F-PSMA-1007, demonstrated sensitivity and overall accuracy of 95.1 percent in locating primary tumors, clearly surpassing MRI’s 82.9 percent accuracy. Importantly, PSMA PET scans can detect recurrent disease even when PSA levels are below 0.5 ng/mL, allowing earlier intervention.
This
Medical News report highlights that PSMA PET/CT is now considered the most sensitive imaging tool for restaging prostate cancer after recurrence.
Precision-Guided Surgery
PSMA-targeted fluorescent probes are now being used during robotic prostate surgery. In early human trials, one probe achieved a 100 percent negative predictive value in identifying residual tumor tissue during surgery. This means surgeons can visually confirm when no cancer remains, reducing the risk of incomplete tumor removal.
Life-Extending Targeted Therapy
The greatest breakthrough comes from PSMA-targeted radioligand therapy using 177Lu-PSMA-617. In the large Phase III VISION trial, patients with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer exp
erienced a median overall survival of 15.3 months compared to 11.3 months with standard care alone. Radiographic progression-free survival improved from 3.4 months to 8.7 months.
In another trial, 66 percent of patients achieved at least a 50 percent drop in PSA levels. Even in earlier-stage metastatic hormone-sensitive disease, combining PSMA therapy with chemotherapy significantly increased deep PSA responses at 48 weeks.
More powerful alpha-emitting therapy using 225Ac-PSMA-617 has shown PSA reductions above 90 percent in many advanced cases, including patients who had failed previous treatments.
A Transformational Shift
PSMA-based technologies are reshaping prostate cancer management from early detection to advanced treatment. They offer more accurate imaging, more precise surgery, and targeted therapies that extend survival while limiting damage to healthy tissues. While sensitivity challenges remain in detecting microscopic lymph node spread, PSMA has firmly established itself as one of the most important breakthroughs in prostate cancer precision medicine.
The study findings were published in the peer reviewed journal: Biomedicines.
https://www.mdpi.com/2227-9059/14/2/482
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