Gene test nearer for identifying men with high risk of prostate cancer death

Screening for mutations would distinguish between aggressive cancer and less harmful forms of disease say scientistsScientists believe they have come a step closer to devising genetic tests that can identify men with prostate cancer who have a high risk of dying from the disease, enabling them to be monitored throughout their lives, and other men to avoid unnecessary treatment.In some men, prostate cancer is so slow-growing that it will not cause them any harm in their lifetime – they will die with it, rather than of it. But in others, it is aggressive and a killer.Because side-effects of treatment can include impotence and incontinence, it has long been recognised that there is a need for tests to establish which men are in real danger and which are not.Scientists at the Institute of Cancer Research in London, who have been screening men from families with a history of prostate cancer, have established that 14 mutations in known cancer genes can predict life-threatening disease. They also found that men with these mutations were likely to have more aggressive disease. Their results are published in the British Journal of Cancer.The breakthrough means that men with prostate cancer in the family could be screened to assess their risk, in the same way that women with a family history of breast cancer can be screened for the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes, which gives them a 50% chance of developing it.The 14 mutations which predict aggressive prostate cancer are in eight genes, which ...
Source: Guardian Unlimited Science - Category: Science Authors: Tags: The Guardian News Health Medical research Society Cancer UK news Men's health Prostate cancer Science Source Type: news