Prostate gene link
January 13, 2012
A RARE genetically inherited
gene mutation linked to a
significantly higher risk of prostate
cancer has been identified by a
team of researchers from John
Hopkins University School of
Medicine and the University of
Michigan Health System.
Published in the New England
Journal of Medicine, the study
involved around 5,200 men who
had been treated for prostate cancer.
Researchers identified a mutation
of the HOXB13 gene in around
1.4% of men, the majority of which
were much more likely to have at
least one first-degree relative who
also had been diagnosed.
A control group of 1,400 men
without prostate cancer only
found one man with the mutation.
“We found that the mutation
was significantly more common in
men with a family history and early
diagnosis compared with men
diagnosed later, after age 55,
without a family history,” said
senior author Dr Kathleen Cooney.
“The difference was 3.1 percent
versus 0.62 percent,” she added.
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