Genetic mutations linked to prostate cancer prognosis

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British scientists have suggest three genetic abnormalities may be used to predict the prognosis of a patient with prostate cancer, Reuters reported.

Prostate cancer in most cases progresses slowly and many older patients may not need treatment to curb the disease.  However, some types of the disease can be very aggressive and cause premature death quickly. 

The problem is that doctors do not know prostate cancer in a man is aggressive or not.  Because of this, some treatments may not be justified.

Alison Reid and colleagues from Britain's Institute of Cancer Research found patients with none of the three genetic abnormalities often had good prognosis with 85 percent of them alive 11 years after diagnosis.

For the study, researchers employed a technique called fluorescence in situ hybridization to test tumor samples from 308 patients to see if any tumor carried any of three genetic abnormalities - loss of the PTEN gene, and rearrangement of the ERG or ETV1 genes.

Previous studies have found loss of the PTEN gene and ERG gene mutations occur in some cases of prostate cancer. But the combinational effect of these mutations remains unknown.

Reid was cited as saying that about 6 percent of patients in the study had lost the PTEN gene, but did not have the ERG and ETV1 genes rearranged. And these patients were at high risk of dying from their cancer.

Prostate cancer is diagnosed in more than 170,000 men each year in the United States and the disease kills about 35,000 men annually in the country, according to the National Cancer Institute.

The disease is considered an affluence disease meaning that a modified lifestyle including dietary practice may significantly reduce the risk.

By David Liu