They tested this four-gene signature in human prostate tumor samples taken from the Physicians’ Health Study, a 30-year study of U.S. physicians.

They found this four-gene signature was more accurate in predicting the ultimate course of the illness than a conventional test called a Gleason score, in which tumor cells are examined under a microscope.

DePinho said the results will make a big impact on how men are tested and treated for prostate cancer, the second most common cancer in men worldwide after lung cancer, killing 254,000 a year.

Dana-Farber has licensed the technology to Metamark Genetics Inc, a Massachusetts-based company that will commercialize the test.

“The goal is to do this within about a year or maybe a bit longer than that,” said DePinho, who has a stake in the company.

On Tuesday, a team at the U.S. national Institutes of Health identified a compound that tumors make when they are most likely to spread and they hope to make a similar test.

SOURCE:  Nature, February 2, 2011