The development is being hailed as a landmark discovery that could pave the way for a national screening programme.
The £5.50 test is able to identify men at a higher risk of the disease decades before they develop it.
Prostate cancer kills 10,000 a year in Britain and experts said the test could mark a new approach to tackling it.
Up to four in 10 European men have a genetic variation that raises their risk of prostate cancer by as much as 50 per cent. Scientists have discovered that the level of an easily detected protein in urine, called MSMB, is always lower in men who have this inherited genetic variation.
MSMB keeps the prostate healthy by killing imperfect cells that could turn cancerous, so men with lower levels of it are more likely to develop prostate cancer. Dr Kate Holmes, the research manager at The Prostate Cancer Charity, said: “Finding a technique to accurately diagnose prostate cancer is the holy grail of research into the disease, which is why these results are potentially exciting.”
Currently there is no national screening programme for prostate cancer because the existing test is not accurate enough and cannot be used to forecast long term risk.
Telegraph UK