# The diagnostic value of prostate health index combined with soluble e-cadherin for prostate cancer

**Authors:** Yeasin Ahamed, Marofe Hossain, Shantanu Baral, Jing Chen, Weigui Sun

PMC · DOI: 10.3389/fendo.2025.1531866 · 2025-09-30

## TL;DR

This study shows that combining the prostate health index and soluble E-cadherin improves accuracy in detecting prostate cancer compared to using either alone.

## Contribution

The novel contribution is demonstrating that combining PHI and sE-cadherin improves diagnostic accuracy for prostate cancer.

## Key findings

- sE-cadherin, tPSA, p2PSA, and PHI levels were significantly higher in prostate cancer patients compared to benign cases.
- The combination of sE-cadherin and PHI achieved a higher AUC (0.792) than either marker alone.
- Higher levels of the combined markers correlated with advanced disease stages, metastasis, and higher Gleason scores.

## Abstract

To assess the diagnostic value of combining prostate health index (PHI) and soluble epithelial cadherin (sE-cadherin) in prostate cancer (PCa) detection.

This study included 250 benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) and 250 PCa patients (2020–2024). PCa patients were categorized by disease stage (I-II:115; III-IV:135), bone metastasis (non-metastatic:171; metastatic:79), and Gleason score (≤8:136; >8:114). Serum sE-cadherin (ELISA), tPSA, fPSA, and p2PSA (chemiluminescence) were measured; PHI was calculated. ROC curves evaluated diagnostic performance.

sE-cadherin, tPSA, p2PSA, and PHI levels were significantly higher in PCa vs. BPH (P<0.05), with further elevations in advanced stages, metastatic cases, and Gleason >8 (P<0.05). ROC analysis demonstrated AUCs of 0.719 (sE-cadherin), 0.761 (PHI), and 0.792 (combined), indicating superior diagnostic accuracy for the combination.

Combining sE-cadherin and PHI enhances PCa detection accuracy, correlating with disease severity, metastasis, and aggressiveness.

## Linked entities

- **Proteins:** shg (shotgun)
- **Diseases:** prostate cancer (MONDO:0005159), benign prostatic hyperplasia (MONDO:0010811)

## Full-text entities

- **Genes:** CDH1 (cadherin 1) [NCBI Gene 999] {aka Arc-1, BCDS1, CD324, CDHE, ECAD, LCAM}
- **Diseases:** BPH (MESH:D011470), PCa (MESH:D011471), bone metastasis (MESH:D009362)
- **Species:** Homo sapiens (human, species) [taxon 9606]

## Figures

2 figures with captions in the complete paper: https://tomesphere.com/paper/PMC12518336/full.md

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Source: https://tomesphere.com/paper/PMC12518336