Researchers at the University of Michigan have reported that small molecules called metabolites, which can be easily identified in a regular urine test, may play a vital role in determining prostate cancer, and other cancers.

The findings of the study, to be published in the February 12 issue of Nature, reveal that with nearly one-third of the middle-aged men supposedly having traces of cancer in their prostate, a urine test may help categorize men who need immediate treatment to combat the fast-spreading disease.

The lead researcher, Dr. Arul Chinnaiyan, Director, Michigan Center for Translational Pathology, said that the metabolites could be of immense use “in predicting aggressiveness of prostate cancer.”

Chinnaiyan and colleagues examined 1,126 metabolites from 262 tissue, blood and urine samples of men detected of prostate cancer at early, advanced and metastatic – extensively spread - stages. The samples brought to light 10 metabolites associated with prostate cancer.

Researchers found that levels of sarcosine, one of the 10 metabolites, in particular pinpointed an advanced prostate cancer. While sarcosine levels 79% in men at advanced stage of the disease, they were 42% in those at an early stage. No sarcosine was traced in samples from men not diagnosed of the disease.

Professor Michael M. Shen, co-author of a journal article accompanying the report, said that the study, advancing the role of metabolites in understanding cancer, might “ultimately yield a clinical application.” (Harkiran contributed to this report)