8q24, previously discovered by deCODE, leads to an increased risk of a cancer that metastasizes to lymph nodes and is hard to remove.
Northwestern University researchers discovered that a recently identified genetic marker for prostate cancer is linked to a highly aggressive form of the disease.
The 8q24 genetic variation was originally discovered by deCODE genetics in collaboration with Northwestern and two other research groups. The initial study by deCODE showed that men who carry this marker have a 60% increase in risk of the disease.
The current study looked at more than 550 prostate cancer patients. Researchers wanted to identify the characteristics of prostate cancer in men who were carriers of these genetic markers to see if their cancer differed from that in men who did not carry the gene variant.
“We found the carriers of these 8q24 markers had more aggressive tumors,” says Brian Helfand, M.D., an assistant research professor of urology at Northwestern, a co-principal investigator of the study, and a physician at Northwestern Memorial Hospital. Patients who were carriers had cancers that were more likely to spread into the lymph nodes and were more difficult to surgically remove.
Dr. Helfand presented his findings on May 20 at the American Urological Association meeting.
