prostate-report.org

Nine genetic variants have a cumulative association with risk of developing prostate cancer

Researchers at Northwestern University in Chicago found the presence of the nine genetic variants in the prostate cancer patients that have a cumulative risk for the disease.

They compared predictions using both an established risk model incorporating five of the variants and an expanded model using all nine. The cumulative model with all nine variants provided greater prostate cancer risk stratification than the model that included only the five genetic variants that had previously been shown to have a cumulative association with prostate cancer risk. Men with at least six of the variants had a more than six-fold higher risk for prostate cancer. Carriers of two of the newly identified variants, 2p15 and 11q13, were more likely to have aggressive features, but, in carriers and non-carriers, other clinicopathological features were similar.

The study findings are published in the August issue of The Journal of Urology.