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The urine test also showed that it correlated well with other measures of gauging the aggressiveness of prostate cancer, Groskopf said.

In the second study, Dutch researchers used PSA readings, a family history of prostate cancer, the size of the prostate, and a previous negative biopsy to create a chart to predict the risk of developing prostate cancer.

The researchers tested their formula in 5,176 men who were screened for prostate cancer after four years. "PSA is still the most significant predictor, but there are other factors that also contribute risk," Monique J. Roobol, who's with the Department of Urology at the Erasmus Medical Center in Rotterdam, said during the teleconference.

The overall risk of developing prostate cancer was 5.1 percent, Roobol said. Men whose PSA levels were 1.5 nanograms per milliliter were seven times more likely to develop prostate cancer than men with a lower PSA, she said.

A family history of prostate cancer will increase the risk of the disease, as will having a small prostate, Roobol said. But if you have had a negative prostate biopsy, your risk decreases, she noted.

Men who have higher risk factors may need more frequent screening, Roobol said. "Men below this threshold may need less frequent screening," she added.

Dr. Durado Brooks, director of colon and prostate cancer prevention programs at the American Cancer Society, doesn't think either of these studies will change clinical practice anytime soon.

Discussing the first study, Brooks noted that this gene fusion is only found in half of prostate cancers. "If you don't find it, it doesn't mean prostate cancer isn't there," he said. "From a screening standpoint, this test is not likely to be very helpful at all."

As for the second study, Brooks said he wasn't sure that integrating these risk factors would effect patient treatment. "This is interesting, but I don't see how t
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