New Discovery for 23 Prostate Cancer Risk Loci

A recent study appearing in Nature Genetics reports that 23 new risk sites are found in the process of analyzing over 10 million genetic markers in 80,000 men with prostate cancer. In addition to 76 identified previously, 100 Prostate Cancer Risk Loci are higher than other cancer ones identified.

In the largest-ever analysis of the cancer's genetic biomarkers, scientists are looking for the combination effect of how 100 loci work together and how much they can explain the heritability of prostate cancer. What they have learnt is that one should rely on the total of the 100 Loci, rather than one gene, to predict risk.

Investigators find that the top 1% of men with these variants have a 5.7-fold relative risk compared with the population average, and only 10% of prostate cancers are the aggressive form.

The indications from the research are that these genetic variants explain 33% of the familial risk of the disease, and some risk variants are more common in different ethnic population. For instance, the aggressive form is prevalent in Africa and they find some risk genes specific to African populations.

Next research steps include the sample collections from 100,000 people with prostate cancer and the larger- scale analysis using huge datasets. The goal of future research is to predict the aggressive form before it goes on to spread because even after the prostate is removed a few cells can go on to kill the person.

As is commonly known in the biomedical community, predicting how prostate cancer will progress has been much like flipping a coin. But a new discovery could change that by enhancing the prediction accuracy.

Investigators analyzed the genetic data in the cells of nearly 300 prostate cancer samples and found certain fragment mismatches called "fusions" in the patients who had recurrent cancer despite removal of the prostate.

Normally, Genomic DNA is lined up in the cells in a very organized fashion, but in cancer cells, it appears the DNA gets mixed up where a piece of one gene is attached to the piece of another gene. The fusions result in the genes unable to make proteins to suppress tumor growth, and the cancer grows more vigorously.

There is about 90% chances to be a recurrence of prostate cancer if one have fusions. So clinicians can give correct judges based on this high number, thereby providing effective therapeutic regimens, such as removal of the prostate and hormone therapy

A researcher said, "We’re in the process of validating this in a larger set of patients, though I expect one day there will be a test you can order, And tests like this may be helpful in deciding is it safe for us to do active surveillance or not in your case."

Numerologist Warda is hooked on OG-L002 fishing, collecting. And lastly her encouragement comes from socializing along with her companions.