The U.S. and Swedish researchers have discovered several genetic variations significantly increasing
The U.S. and Swedish researchers have discovered several genetic variations significantly increasing the hereditary predisposition to prostate cancer, according to research published Wednesday in the United States, Unicycles doctors have identified 16 genetic variations in five different regions of chromosomes 8 and 17 who were more prevalent among men with prostate cancer compared to those who are this tumor.
These researchers analyzed blood samples from 2893 patients with prostate cancer and a control group of 1781 healthy men in Sweden.
They determined that these genetic variations could be responsible for nearly half of all cases of this cancer in the group studied. These doctors have also determined that the more these variations is high over the risk increases. Men with four or five of these genetic markers in the group studied had nearly 4.5 times more likely to develop prostate cancer.
But if the subjects, in addition to these genetic variations, have had a significant number of their family members (father, uncle, grandparents) affected by prostate cancer, may be reached would be multiplied by 9.5 compared to those with no such family history, according to the authors of this research published in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) dated January 17.
The authors of this research also point out that genetic variations identified did not predict the rate of progression of the tumour.
“A genetic test using these variations to assess the risk of prostate cancer is being developed and should be readily available,” said Dr. William Isaacs, Faculty of Medicine at the Johns Hopkins University (Maryland), a co-authors of this work.
“Although the results of this research have yet to be refined and validated, they represent a step in the right direction to reveal the genetic causes of this cancer that we seek for fifteen years,” he adds.
This international research team plans to analyze genetic samples from men in USA to determine if these variations are present outside the Swedish male population is relatively genetically homogeneous.
Currently the only screening test for prostate cancer is the strength of the PSA, a molecule known to be a biological marker of this tumor, but its effectiveness is subject to controversy.
There have been 218 890 new cases of prostate cancer diagnosed in the USA in 2007 and 27 050 deaths have resulted from this disease during the same period, according to the U.S. National Institute on Cancer (NCI).
Researchers at Wake Forest University (North Carolina) and the Karolinska Institute in Sweden have also participated in this research.
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