Genetic Marker Linked to Aggressive Prostate Cancer

A recently identified genetic marker for prostate cancer is linked to a highly aggressive form of the disease.

This genetic marker ultimately will aid the development of a simple blood test to predict who is susceptible to this aggressive cancer. Knowing which patients carry this genetic marker also will guide doctors in how they treat the cancer.

A study, performed by Northwestern University's Feinberg School of Medicine (Chicago, IL, USA) investigators, showed a strong hereditary component to this aggressive cancer. Prostate cancer patients who carry the genetic marker--called 8q24--are much more likely to have a close family member with the disease. They have a 40% chance of having a close family member with prostate cancer. In contrast, prostate cancer patients who do not carry the marker have a 20% chance.

The study looked at more than 550 prostate cancer patients who had been treated at the Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center at Northwestern University. Researchers wanted to identify the characteristics of prostate cancer in men who were carriers of these genetic markers to see if their cancer differed from that in men who did not carry the gene variant.

"We found the carriers of these 8q24 markers had more aggressive tumors,” said Prof. Helfand, an assistant research professor of urology at Northwestern's Feinberg School of Medicine, a co-principal investigator of the study and a physician at Northwestern Memorial Hospital. "Patients who were carriers had cancers that were more likely to spread into the lymph nodes and were more difficult to surgically remove.”

Dr. Helfand presented his findings on May 20, 2007, at the American Urological Association meeting in Anaheim, CA, USA.


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Northwestern University's Feinberg School of Medicine