Prostate Cancer and the Evolving Role of Biomarkers in Screening and Diagnosis.

The diagnosis and management of prostate cancer have substantially changed over the last 3 decades. Serum prostate-specific antigen (PSA) was adopted for screening in the 1990s after it was found to be a sensitive indicator of disease. Because of a lack of specificity for significant disease, indiscriminate PSA testing led to overdiagnosis and overtreatment. Several biomarkers have been developed that are superior to PSA in stratifying a man's risk for harboring potentially lethal prostate cancer.