1 in 8 advanced prostate cancers may be linked to faulty genes

Conclusion Much of modern cancer treatment is aimed at finding the right treatment for the right person, and this type of genetic research may help doctors to target treatments at the people who are most likely to benefit from them. It's not news that mutations in DNA repair genes like BRCA2 are linked to an increased risk of prostate cancer, although we are still some way from understanding how that link works. But the finding that these mutations seem to be much more common in men whose cancer has spread around the body is interesting. Doctors have long wanted a test that could identify which prostate cancers are more likely to spread, and this genetic test could potentially add to the information that helps pinpoint that risk. A class of medication known as poly ADP ribose polymerase (PARP) inhibitors has proved useful in treating other types of cancer associated with mutations in DNA repair genes. Further research to explore this avenue of potential treatment would be useful. The study has important limitations. Different methods of DNA analysis were used in different hospitals, which might have affected the results. More importantly, there was no direct comparison group, so researchers were unable to balance or match men with metastatic cancer with men with localised prostate cancer of the same age or with the same family history, to get an unbiased comparison between the two groups. The study used to compare rates of gene mutations in men with localised prostate ...
Source: NHS News Feed - Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Cancer Genetics/stem cells Source Type: news