genetics

Last edited 09/2019 and last reviewed 05/2022

A familial clustering similar to breast and colon cancer has been reported in prostate cancer (1):

  • 5%-10% of all cases of prostate cancer are thought to be primarily due to high risk inherited genetic factors or prostate cancer susceptibility genes (1)

In men with a family history of prostate cancer, the risk increases with increasing numbers of first-degree relatives diagnosed with the disease

  • 2.5-fold - if the father had prostate cancer
  • 3.4-fold if the brother had prostate cancer
  • 3.5-fold if there are two first-degree relatives with a history of prostate cancer
  • 4.3-fold if the relative was under 60 years of age at diagnosis (2)

Over 70% of prostate cancers have abnormalities at chromosome 8p22 suggesting that there may be a tumour suppressor gene at this location.

Germline mutation of the BRCA2 tumour suppressor gene substantially increases the lifetime risk of developing prostate cancer (PCa)

  • in BRCA2-mutation carriers, localized PCa rapidly progresses to metastatic castrate-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC) with 5-year cancer-specific survival rates of from 50-60% (3,4)
  • BRCA2-mutant tumours also exhibit an increased frequency of intraductal carcinoma (IDC), a pathology that predicts adverse outcome in both familial and sporadic PCa (5,6)

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