Researchers urge prostate cancer screening for men with BRCA gene defects

Prostate cancer screening with the prostate-specific antigen (PSA) test has been criticized for flagging too many slow-growing tumors that might never be life-threatening. But some men have inherited gene defects that boost their risk of developing prostate cancers that can be quite aggressive. Is PSA screening particularly well-suited for these genetically defined groups? New research suggests the answer is yes. In November, a team of British scientists released highly anticipated findings from a study of PSA screening in men with defects in a pair of important genes called BRCA1 and BRCA2. Better known for increasing the odds of breast and ovarian cancer in women, BRCA gene defects are also risk factors for aggressive prostate cancer in men. Cells with defective BRCA genes have a compromised ability to repair the DNA damage they sustain routinely every day. As that damage accumulates, those cells become prone to forming tumors. What the investigators wanted to know was if PSA screens detect more prostate cancers in men who test positive for BRCA mutations than those who do not. To find out, they screened just over 2,900 men ages 45 to 69 who were split into four groups: a BRCA1 mutation-positive group, a BRCA2 mutation-positive group, and two groups that tested negative for mutations in either gene. The men were screened annually for four years, and had a prostate biopsy if their PSA levels ran higher than 3.0 nanograms per deciliter. What the results show In all 357 men we...
Source: Harvard Health Blog - Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Tags: Health Prostate Knowledge Screening HPK Source Type: blogs