The UK National Screening Committee (UK NSC) has recommended that all UK nations implement targeted prostate cancer screening for men aged 45 to 61 who have both a BRCA2 gene change that increases cancer risk and a family history of breast, ovarian, pancreatic or prostate cancer.
As part of this approach, eligible men would be offered a prostate specific antigen (PSA) test every two years.
This final recommendation modifies a draft recommendation the UK NSC made in November 2025, which also included men with BRCA1 gene changes. Since then, the committee has been consulting with organisations, experts and the public, and considering the latest evidence on the risks and benefits of screening these groups, among others.
“Today’s announcement will be disappointing for many people, but the PSA test currently used to help detect prostate cancer isn’t effective enough to support wider screening, as shown in multiple large-scale trials,” explains Dr Ian Walker, Cancer Research UK’s Executive Director of Policy. “Screening should only be introduced when the benefits outweigh the harms, including unnecessary and invasive overtreatment, and right now, the evidence is only strong enough to screen men aged 45 to 61 with BRCA2 gene changes and a relevant family history.”
We now urge governments across the UK to accept the UK NSC’s recommendation and begin to implement targeted screening.
At the same time, they should continue to invest in research that brings us closer to effective screening for more men. We also aim to be part of that work. Over the past three years, Cancer Research UK has invested £28m to find new and better ways to prevent, detect and treat cancer, and we will continue to help more men affected by prostate cancer live longer, better lives.
In this article, we’re covering what’s been recommended, why, and what it means for men in the eligible group.
