'Aggressive' prostate cancer gene find

Men with prostate cancer and an inherited gene mutation have the worst form of the disease, research reveals.

The BRCA2 gene is linked to hereditary breast cancer, as well as prostate and ovarian cancer.Now scientists say that as well as being more likely to get prostate cancer, men with BRCA2     are also more likely to develop aggressive        tumours and have the poorest survival         rates.

They say these men should be treated quickly to save lives.

Around one in every 100 men with prostate cancer will have the BRCA2 mutation.

These men might benefit from immediate surgery or radiotherapy, even if their disease is at an early stage and would normally be classified as low risk, according to the latest work in the Journal of Clinical Oncology. 

Diverse disease

Prostate cancer can grow extremely slowly or very quickly, and this is something that is hard to predict early on.

Some men may live symptom-free for a lifetime, despite having this cancer.

For many, treatment is not immediately necessary.

But researchers say men with BRCA2 and prostate cancer should be treated early and aggressively because their tumour is more likely to spread.

Prof Ros Eeles and colleagues at The Institute of Cancer Research in London and The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust found prostate cancers spread more quickly and were more often fatal in men who had inherited a faulty BRCA2 gene than in men without the faulty gene.

Prostate cancer

• The prostate is a small gland in the pelvis found only in men. Its job is to make the fluid part of semen that sperm swim in
• Prostate cancer does not normally cause symptoms until the cancer has grown large enough to affect surrounding structures like the urethra that carries urine from the bladder
• This can lead to problems passing urine - needing to pee more often or difficulty starting to urinate
• Prostate cancer can be diagnosed by taking a biopsy (a small tissue sample of the prostate gland)
• Some men may be advised to delay having treatment if the tumour is very slow growing and not causing any problems
• Others may want to have surgery to remove the entire prostate
• For some, treatment may offer the best chance of cure but it can cause serious side effects including impotence and incontinence

From BBC -Health