Blood Test for Prostate Cancer Risk?
According to new genomics research by a team from Wake Forest University School of Medicine, a blood test for five generic variants previously associated with prostate cancer will be able to gauge a man’s risk for developing prostate cancer.
As the researchers reported in New England Journal of Medicine:
Researchers found that a man with four of the five variants has an increased risk of 400 to 500 percent compared to men with none of the variants. The researchers then added a family history of prostate cancer to the equation – for a total of six risk factors. A man with at least five of the six factors had increased risk of more than 900 percent.
The scientists say each variant was independently associated with prostate cancer risk and that the variants are fairly common in the population. Together, these five variants and a family history accounted for almost half (46 percent) of prostate cancer patients.
The study involved analyzing DNA samples from 2,893 men with prostate cancer and 1,781 healthy individuals of similar ages – all participants of a prostate cancer study in Sweden.
First, saliva test to detect breast cancer, now blood test determine a man’s prostate cancer risk.
Recently, the developments so that cancer can be detected early has really been very promising.
Find more details from Wake Forest University Medical Center.
Tags: genetic-variants, genomics, genomics-research, prostate-cancerRelated Stories
POSTED IN: on cancer diagnostics, on prostate cancer
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