Veracyte's Decipher Prostate Genomic Classifier, an AI-based transcriptome test, accurately predicts aggressive prostate cancer in African American men, according to results from the Validation Study on the Impact of Decipher Testing in African American Men (VANDAAM). The study, presented at the annual meeting of the American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO), confirms that the test offers clinicians an improvement over clinical factors alone in guiding prostate cancer treatment decisions for both White and Black American men.
Addressing Disparities in Prostate Cancer
Prostate cancer disproportionately affects Black men, who are 1.7 times more likely to be diagnosed and 2.1 times more likely to die from the disease compared to White men. Veracyte's study addresses the critical need for genomic tests that are effective across diverse populations. "[Black American men] are 70% more likely to be diagnosed with prostate cancer and twice as likely to die from the disease, and there are lots of reasons for that. Their care quality is a major factor," said Veracyte CEO Marc Stapley.
VANDAAM Trial Details
The VANDAAM trial, led by Kosj Yamoah, MD, PhD, of the H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center and Research Institute, included men with low- or intermediate-risk prostate cancer. The study analyzed data from a clinically balanced cohort of 226 men, with 113 African Americans and 113 non-African Americans, using the Decipher Prostate classifier to generate risk scores.
"What I like about what [Yamoah and his team] did with VANDAAM was that they made a very concerted effort to do a one-to-one matching to make sure that they were truly representative and equitable and equal in many respects to the population that they were comparing," Stapley noted.
Decipher's Predictive Accuracy
The study found that high Decipher test scores were associated with an eight-fold increased risk of biochemical recurrence (BCR) within two years after standard treatment, compared to lower genomic test scores. This correlation remained significant even after controlling for factors like age, race, and pre-treatment prostate-specific antigen levels (PSA). The results indicated no significant difference in predictive accuracy between African American and non-African American men.
"[VANDAAM] showed that… Decipher does not differentiate between those populations—it serves them both equally," said Stapley. "A high-risk Decipher score is as impactful for African-American men as it is for non-African-American men."
Expanding Access and Reducing Disparities
Veracyte aims to expand access to Decipher testing to mitigate disparities in prostate cancer outcomes. The company is conducting studies across different risk groups and stages of prostate cancer, including patients undergoing prostatectomy and those experiencing metastasis. "Veracyte will continue to do this and make sure that when we do studies, we always keep underrepresented populations in mind and do not leave them out in the cold," Stapley affirmed.
