Gene Combo Tied to Cancer Risk -- Could Lead to Blood Test for Prostate Danger

Jan 17, 06:32 PM

Scientists have taken a key step toward revealing the causes of prostate cancer, finding that a combination of five gene variants dramatically raises the risk of the disease. Added to family history, they accounted for nearly half of all cases in a study of Swedish men.

The discovery is remarkable not just for the big portion of cases it might explain, but also because this relatively new approach - looking at combos rather than single genes - may help solve the mystery of many complex diseases like cancer and diabetes that are thought to involve multiple genes or interactions among them.

"It gives us a new way of looking at genetic risk factors," said Dr. Teri Manolio of the National Human Genome Research Institute, the federal agency focused on such work.

It also might lead to a blood test to predict who is likely to develop prostate cancer. Those found at risk could be offered hormone-blocking drugs to try to prevent the disease.

The Swedish results must be verified in other countries and races, where the gene variants, or markers, may not be as common. Unfortunately, the markers do not help doctors tell which cancers need treatment and which do not - they turned out to have nothing to do with the aggressiveness of a tumor, only whether a man is likely to develop one.

This "eyebrow-raising study" should quickly spur more research, particularly in black people, who have a higher incidence of prostate cancer, said Dr. Howard Sandler, a cancer specialist at the University of Michigan and spokesman for the American Society of Clinical Oncology.

The study was led by doctors at Wake Forest University in Winston- Salem, N.C., and involved Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore and the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm. Results were published online Wednesday by the New England Journal of Medicine.

Prostate cancer is the most common cancer in American men and arguably the most mysterious. Unlike breast cancer, where variants in single genes like BRCA are known to confer greater risk, few have been discovered for prostate cancer.

Originally published by Marilynn Marchione Associated Press .

(c) 2008 Commercial Appeal, The. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved. Gene Combo Tied to Cancer Risk -- Could Lead to Blood Test for Prostate Danger
Back to Current Headlines