What is psa?

Prostate blood test: Psa or prostate specific antigen is a blood test that is used to screen for prostate cancer along with a clinical exam. A cut off value of 4 is often used to offer biopsy for diagnosis. Not all values above 4 are due to cancers and some cancers have psa less than 4. Some recent guidelines have recommended against use of psa to screen for prostate cancer.

Prostate specific: Antigen. It is a protein made by glands in the prostate and blood levels are increased with both benign enlargement of prostate and prostate cancer.

Reproductive Protein: Psa is a normal protein produced in the prostate. Biologically it functions as a protease, which means it cuts another protein into smaller pieces. The result of psa's proteolytic action is liqefaction of semen. In other words, psa turns thick semen into thin liquid semen.

Here are what we....: - first discovered in 1970 from prostate tissue so believed to be prostate-specific, but disproved since it is detected in female breasts, blood, amniotic fluid, etc. - used as a test to suggest if a man has high suspicion for prostate caner, - its intended value and usage have fallen into the hole of professional and industrial profit-taking as out-cried by its discoverer 40 yrs later.