PUBLIC RELEASE DATE:

20-Feb-2014

Contact: Henry French henry.french@icr.ac.uk 020-715-35380 Institute of Cancer Research

Screening men with a family history of prostate cancer for a range of gene mutations can identify those who are at high risk of aggressive forms of the disease and in need of lifelong monitoring, a new study has shown.

Scientists at The Institute of Cancer Research, London, found screening of men who had multiple relatives with prostate cancer was able to pick up 14 mutations in known cancer genes that predicted the development of the disease.

The research was mainly funded by Prostate Cancer UK with additional support from Cancer Research UK, and is published in the British Journal of Cancer today (Friday).

The findings are important because they demonstrate not only that some men have a genetic profile that puts them at higher risk of prostate cancer, but that particular genetic profiles match to a higher risk of advanced, invasive disease. A big challenge facing prostate cancer researchers is to find ways of predicting which men will have life-threatening forms of the disease, to allow treatment to be tailored more effectively.

Scientists at The Institute of Cancer Research (ICR) analysed blood samples from 191 men with prostate cancer at several different UK centres. They were able to use new 'second generation' DNA sequencing technologies to assess mutations in 22 different known cancer genes at once opening up for the first time the prospect of rapid genetic screening for prostate cancer for a wide range of mutations.

The researchers looked at men with a history of three or more cases of prostate cancer in their close family, in order to mirror use of family history as a criterion for existing gene testing programmes in breast cancer.

The researchers found 13 'loss of function' mutations which prevent the genes from producing a properly working protein in eight DNA repair genes. The genes tested for were BRCA1 and BRCA2, which are already routinely tested for in women with a strong family history of breast or ovarian cancer, plus ATM, CHEK2, BRIP1, MUTYH, PALB2 and PMS2.

Continue reading here:
Genetic screening can identify men with advanced prostate cancer

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