Description: A test that focuses on a blood protein produced by prostate cancer cells may improve disease diagnosis, researchers report.

Levels of this protein, called prostate cancer antigen-2 (EPCA-2), appear to give a more accurate picture of cancer present in the body, experts say.

"We've been able to show that blood levels of it are low in normal individuals and high in prostate cancer, and that it distinguishes between cancers that are confined to the prostate and those that have spread outside the gland," explained study lead researcher Dr. Robert H. Getzenberg, professor of urology and director of research at Johns Hopkins University's James Buchanan Brady Urological Institute, in Baltimore.

His team published its findings in the May issue of Urology.

Prostate cancer is the most common malignancy in American men. There will be some 218,890 new cases in the United States this year and 27,050 deaths linked to the disease, the American Cancer