Researchers from the Institute of Cancer Research (ICR) and the University of Southern Carolina's Keck School of Medicine in the US have identified new genetic variants that link to men with African ancestry’s risk of developing prostate cancer.

Results from the study could help explain why men of African descent have a greater risk of developing the condition.

Published in Nature Genetics, researchers compiled DNA from over 944,000 men of European, African, Asian and Hispanic ancestry – over 150,000 of whom had prostate cancer.

Approximately 19,391 of the samples were from men with prostate cancer of African ancestry, offering insight into why they are twice as likely to develop the condition compared to white European men.

As a whole, researchers identified 187 new genetic variants linked to men’s risk of developing prostate cancer.

Across the UK, more than 52,000 men are diagnosed with prostate cancer every year.

The condition affects one in four men with black African or Caribbean ancestry, compared to one in eight men with white European ancestry.

The study, funded by Cancer Research UK, the US National Institutes of Health and the Prostate Cancer Foundation, also found that one in six men with African ancestry are highly genetically susceptible to developing prostate cancer.

The new findings from the study will allow 23% of men who will go on to develop prostate cancer to be correctly identified.

Moving forward, the ICR and the Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust have begun to conduct trials of targeted prostate cancer screening to include men of African ancestry.

Additionally, the new genetic variants discovered in men with African ancestry open new avenues of research to reveal how these variants increase the risk of prostate cancer.

Dr Zsofia Kote-Jarai, senior scientist at the ICR, said: "This study represents a huge step forward in our ability to more accurately predict the risk of prostate cancer amongst men with African and African Caribbean ancestry.”

Christopher Haiman, Director of the USC Center for Genetic Epidemiology at the Keck School of Medicine, said: “We’ll continue to improve this risk score and look for markers that help to distinguish aggressive from less aggressive disease.”

https://www.pmlive.com/pharma_news/new_genetic_variants_linked_to_prostate_cancer_in_men_with_african_ancestry_1503833