Genes Might Raise Prostate Cancer Risk

Jan 17, 11:32 PM

By The Associated Press

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 - might help solve the mystery of many complex diseases like cancer and diabetes that are thought to involve multiple genes or interactions between 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. These men could be closely monitored and perhaps offered hormone-blocking drugs like finasteride to try to prevent the disease.

The Swedish results must be verified in other countries and races, where the gene variants, or markers, might not be as common. Researchers already have plans to look for them in U.S. men.

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.