Prostate Cancer Aggressiveness Affected by Breast Cancer Gene Mutations

Prostate cancer is the second-leading cancer killer of men, killing 221,000 every year worldwide out of 679,000 new cases diagnosed.

Women carrying mutations in either BRCA1 or 2 face an increased risk of developing breast cancer, ovarian cancer, or both, hence the nickname.

The report was made by scientists from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University report in the January 29 issue of Clinical Cancer Research.

The study involved 979 men with prostate cancer and 1251 men without the disease. Mutations in the two genes did not increase the likelihood of contracting prostate cancer. However, such a mutation did increase the likelihood of any such cancer being aggressive. The rate of aggressive cancer was 3.2x time more than normal.

All the people enrolled in the study were of Ashkenazi Jewish descent because they are five times more likely to carry a mutation of any kind in the BRCA1 or BRCA2 genes.

"One of the biggest problems with early-stage prostate cancer is being able to distinguish between tumors with the potential to become aggressive and those that may persist for many years without enlarging or spreading," notes Dr. Robert Burk, senior author of the study.