Researchers at University of Michigan has found that presence of small molecules, called metabolites in urine can help in distinguishing between the benign and aggressive forms of prostate cancer.

Lead researchers, Dr. Arul Chinnaiyan, director of the Michigan Center for Translational Pathology and a professor of pathology and urology said, "Metabolites, similar to genes and proteins, should also be measured in understanding cancer. They have been under-appreciated relative to genes being profiled in cancer. This approach could be extended to other cancers."

Chinnaiyan added that however, before a urine test involving metabolites could become standard medical practice, it would have to be tested in animals and then in people through clinical trials.

Researchers studied 1,126 metabolites from 262 tissue, blood and urine samples taken from men with early, advanced and metastatic prostate cancer.

Study showed 10 metabolites that frequently appeared with prostate cancer and especially with advanced prostate cancer. However sarcosine was found to be the most indicative of advanced prostate cancer. 79 percent of the samples from men with metastatic cancer (cancer that has spread) and 42 percent of the samples from men with early stage disease showed elevated levels of sarcosine whereas no trace of sarcosine was found in samples from men who did not have prostate cancer.