Urine and blood tests can determine genetic risk for prostate cancer

Men with an elevated, genetically inherited risk for prostate cancer could be identified with a simple blood or urine test, according to a study by researchers from University of California.

To prove the scientists compared 7,783 men with prostate cancer to 38,595 men without the disease. They analysed genetic samples and health records from more than 100,000 volunteers, making it one of the largest research projects in the US to examine the genetic, health and environmental factors that influence common diseases such as prostate cancer.

The researchers modelled prostate cancer risk using 105 specific bits of DNA that commonly vary among individuals and that they confirmed are associated with prostate cancer risk. They found that a combination of these DNA variants that placed men among the highest 10 per cent for risk were more than six times as likely to be diagnosed with prostate cancer compared to the men who ranked among the lowest 10 per cent for prostate cancer risk.

“We developed a risk model that may have clinical value,” said John Witte, a UCSF professor of epidemiology and biostatistics and of urology.

The study was published in the journal Cancer Discovery.

By Lizitha