7 new prostate cancer risk factors identified
Prostate cancer
(Picture courtesy of BBC)
UK scientists have found seven new sites in the human genome that are linked to men’s risk of developing prostate cancer. Dr Ros Eales and Prof Doug Easton from The Institute of Cancer Research and University of Cambridge respectively, found one gene called MSMB which could possibly be used in screening for prostate cancer and disease monitoring. Another of the sites harbors a gene called LMTK2 which might be a target for new treatments. The data suggests these newly identified genetic alterations are present in over half of all prostate cancer cases. They each increase a person’s risk of the disease by up to 60 per cent.
The findings, in summary are:
- The five new genetic regions found are on human chromosomes 3, 6, 7, 10, 11, 19. & X.
- The region on chromosome 10 harbors the MSMB (microseminoprotein B) gene, this makes a protein that can be measured in the blood.
- The region on chromosome 7 harbours the gene LMTK2 which codes for a signalling protein.
- The region on chromosome 19 contains the genes KLK2 and KLK3. These code for proteins HK2 and PSA which can be measured in blood.
The team, collaborating with scientists in the UK and Australia, studied the differences in the genetic make up of over 10,000 men in total. They started by scanning the DNA of men who were thought to be at higher ‘genetic risk’ of prostate cancer because they had been diagnosed with the disease before the age of 61 (1,171 men) or had a family history of prostate cancer (683 men). They then compared these results with a control group of men who did not have the disease (1,894 men) but lived in similar areas.
In the next stage, they looked to see if these genetic variants could be found more frequently in men with prostate cancer than in men without the disease. They studied 3,268 men with prostate cancer from the UK and Australia and 3,366 men who did not have the disease.
There is currently no routine screening prostate cancer program, although men with a family history of the disease can have a prostate specific antigen (PSA) blood test to detect signs of the disease. But this is notoriously inaccurate and although 10-15% of men will have high enough PSA levels to warrant carrying out a prostate biopsy, only 2-3% will require any treatment.
Dr Ros Eeles says: “From a public health point of view, this could be very helpful because it will allow us to target scarce resources to where they are really needed.
She said genetic profiling would definitely happen but researchers were not in a position to offer the test just yet.
“We’re doing the trial because we need to see who would come forward for the test, who would benefit, what kind of results do they get on their biopsies and what kind of cancer develops.”
Elaine Warburton www.geneticsandhealth.com
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POSTED IN: Companion diagnostics, DNA, DNA profiling, Genealogy and DNA, General Genetics and Health, Genes, Genetic Testing, Genetics of Disease, Genome sequencing, Human Genome, Personalized Medicine, Population genetics, cancer, prostate-cancer
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