Dr. Ros Eeles, head of the Cancer Research in Surrey, said, "These exciting results will help us to more accurately calculate the risk of developing prostate cancer and may lead to the development of better targeted screening and treatment."
According to experts, having a male family member with prostate cancer bring up to four times the chances of developing the dreaded disease. Early detection test relies on the PSA test that checks protein levels. Raised protein levels may either indicate a tumor is forming or it could be a mere blip that will go back to normal level in the future.
The U.K. study probed into the DNA of around 2,000 males who were diagnosed with prostrate cancer before they reached 61 or had a record of that kind of cancer running in their families. Comparison with DNA of the same number of males from the same region with no cancer of the prostate led to the discovery of unique mutations on seven chromosomes.
The breakthrough findings were published Sunday at the Nature Genetics journal.
