The Man Van will use a DNA test to reveal an individuals likelihood of getting the cancer in their lifetime.
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A new trial hoping to reduce late diagnoses of prostate cancer is set to launch in London.
The Man Van will use a DNA test to reveal an individual’s likelihood of getting the cancer in their lifetime.
The innovative outreach programme, named The ‘Man Van’, launched last year. It aims to speed up cancer diagnosis by providing tests for people who usually don’t access healthcare.
Creator the Man Van, Dr Nick James, wants to extend the project to include the new DNA-based trial.
He says its difficult to catch cases early because symptoms don’t show until down the line.
“The problem with trying to diagnose prostate cancer early is that symptoms occur relatively late. The tumour have to be quite big before you get symptoms from a cancer in your prostate.”
Prof Nick James launched the van in March 2022 to help promote men’s health Credit: Sam Mellish
As the van reaches its first anniversary, Nick hopes it will take the trial a step further with this DNA test.
The programme was developed by The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust, RM Partners West London Cancer Alliance, and The Institute of Cancer Research, London.
How does the test work?
The test extracts DNA from a saliva sample. From this, Nick says they can then estimate an individual’s genetic liability to prostate cancer -a polygenic risk score.
“We can then identify the men at highest risk, in terms of the top 10%, 20% or so. The top 10% of men on a percent risk score have got a much greater than 50% chance of developing prostate cancer in their lifetime.”
The importance of early diagnosis
Owen was diagnosed with prostate cancer aged 56. He first had symptoms in his early 50s and so regularly took prostate-specific antigen (PSA) tests.
He says he was lucky, as many of his friends were diagnosed late.
“I could act on mine pretty quickly. But having said that, two of my friends had no symptoms at all. They had a much more difficult experience – they were diagnosed really late and the cancer spread.”
To him, the Man Van offers a way to prevent more people getting to this stage.
“I think the idea of a van that you can just walk in and be checked is quite good because we all know how difficult it is to get a doctor’s appointment. It would have helped my friends.”
Will this help?
Dr Elisabeth Mahase has critiqued the Man Van’s programme for being unoriginal and insufficient approaches to the issue.
She says that both the test for prostate cancer and the proposed DNA test already exist but have been unable to significantly reduce late diagnosis.
But Clinical Research Fellow for the trial, Masood Moghul, says this new way of rolling it out and targeted approach can make it effective.
“Yes the tests exist, but they are hard to get your hands on. Mostly you can only get them privately or at specialist hospitals. By making it accessible to people, we can test people who otherwise wouldn’t have known.”
Masood went on to explain that by knowing your chances of getting prostate cancer, they might be able to catch more cases earlier.
“It’s not like lung cancer where if you know you’re likely to get it you can stop smoking. But by knowing where you stand, you can be more aware of symptoms, get checked more regularly, and prevent yourself finding out too late.”
Who can access the new test?
The mobile health clinic travels across London, but is mainly based at The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust.
While the Man Van is open to anyone in London, it is specifically targeting men of a working age who often struggle to access health care.
The van has a built-in clinic space where men are given PSA tests, which is a blood test, to speed up the detection of prostate cancer. Credit: Sam Mellish
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HeadlineMan Van launches new trial to speed up prostate cancer diagnosis in London
Short Headline Prostate cancer test launches in London
StandfirstThe DNA test hopes to reveal an individual’s likelihood of getting prostate cancer in their lifetime.
A new trial hoping to reduce late diagnoses of prostate cancer is set to launch in London.
The Man Van will use a DNA test to reveal an individual’s likelihood of getting the cancer in their lifetime.
The innovative outreach programme, named The ‘Man Van’, launched last year. It aims to speed up cancer diagnosis by providing tests for people who usually don’t access healthcare.
Creator the Man Van, Dr Nick James, wants to extend the project to include the new DNA-based trial.
He says its difficult to catch cases early because symptoms don’t show until down the line.
“The problem with trying to diagnose prostate cancer early is that symptoms occur relatively late. The tumour have to be quite big before you get symptoms from a cancer in your prostate.”
Prof Nick James launched the van in March 2022 to help promote men’s health Credit: Sam Mellish
As the van reaches its first anniversary, Nick hopes it will take the trial a step further with this DNA test.
The programme was developed by The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust, RM Partners West London Cancer Alliance, and The Institute of Cancer Research, London.
How does the test work?
The test extracts DNA from a saliva sample. From this, Nick says they can then estimate an individual’s genetic liability to prostate cancer -a polygenic risk score.
“We can then identify the men at highest risk, in terms of the top 10%, 20% or so. The top 10% of men on a percent risk score have got a much greater than 50% chance of developing prostate cancer in their lifetime.”
The importance of early diagnosis
Owen was diagnosed with prostate cancer aged 56. He first had symptoms in his early 50s and so regularly took prostate-specific antigen (PSA) tests.
He says he was lucky, as many of his friends were diagnosed late.
“I could act on mine pretty quickly. But having said that, two of my friends had no symptoms at all. They had a much more difficult experience – they were diagnosed really late and the cancer spread.”
To him, the Man Van offers a way to prevent more people getting to this stage.
“I think the idea of a van that you can just walk in and be checked is quite good because we all know how difficult it is to get a doctor’s appointment. It would have helped my friends.”
Will this help?
Dr Elisabeth Mahase has critiqued the Man Van’s programme for being unoriginal and insufficient approaches to the issue.
She says that both the test for prostate cancer and the proposed DNA test already exist but have been unable to significantly reduce late diagnosis.
But Clinical Research Fellow for the trial, Masood Moghul, says this new way of rolling it out and targeted approach can make it effective.
“Yes the tests exist, but they are hard to get your hands on. Mostly you can only get them privately or at specialist hospitals. By making it accessible to people, we can test people who otherwise wouldn’t have known.”
Masood went on to explain that by knowing your chances of getting prostate cancer, they might be able to catch more cases earlier.
“It’s not like lung cancer where if you know you’re likely to get it you can stop smoking. But by knowing where you stand, you can be more aware of symptoms, get checked more regularly, and prevent yourself finding out too late.”
Who can access the new test?
The mobile health clinic travels across London, but is mainly based at The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust.
While the Man Van is open to anyone in London, it is specifically targeting men of a working age who often struggle to access health care.
The van has a built-in clinic space where men are given PSA tests, which is a blood test, to speed up the detection of prostate cancer. Credit: Sam Mellish
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