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Gene research may improve prostate cancer treatment
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Prostate cancer patients may have new treatment options someday due to a recent discovery at the Translational Genomics Research Institute in Phoenix.
Researchers have found a gene that appears to suppress the development of prostate cancer. Dr. John Carpten, head of the institute’s prostate cancer research division, said his staff found abnormal versions of the gene in about 10 percent of prostate cancer tissue samples they analyzed.
"These findings represent a significant advancement in prostate cancer research, as the number of current treatment options for advanced prostate cancer remains limited," Carpten said.
Prostate cancer is second only to lung cancer as the leading cause of cancer death in U.S. men, according to the American Cancer Society. Nearly 31,000 U.S. men died of prostate cancer in 2001.
The cancer society estimates that more than 230,000 cases of prostate cancer will be diagnosed this year in American men.
The disease, which attacks the gland that makes part of a man’s seminal fluid, usually progresses slowly and often does not require treatment for many years.
The institute’s findings, which appeared Sunday in the journal Nature Genetics, warrant additional research to determine the extent of the gene’s involvement in prostate cancer and other cancers, Carpten said.
Researchers identified the gene through a massive international collaboration of scientists from several institutions, Carpten said. He compared the process to a large fishing expedition.
"When you go fishing, you can throw in one hook, or you can throw in a net," Carpten said. "We threw in a net."
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