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| Gene
Predicts Prostate Cancer: Study |
Oct. 9, 2002 |
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| Provided by: Associated Press |
| Written by: Mark Evans |
In a discovery that could someday help guide treatment of men
suffering from early stages of prostate cancer, researchers
studying DNA in tumours say they have found a gene that predicts
whether the cancer will develop into its most lethal form.
Some prostate tumours stay confined to the organ while others do
not, but doctors have no way to tell the difference before the
spread occurs.
In their study, University of Michigan Medical School
researchers examined tumour cells taken from prostate cancer
patients. They found 55 genes that were more active in
metastatic cells than in less-lethal cells. A gene called EZH2
was the most active of all.
They then tracked EZH2 more closely, finding that the intensity
of its expression -- namely, the prevalence of proteins for
which the gene serves as a code -- increased as tissue samples
progressed from benign to localized to metastatic.
In addition, patients with clinically isolated prostate cancer,
who showed higher levels of the EZH2 protein, were likelier to
eventually get the deadlier form of the disease, said Arul M.
Chinnaiyan, a University of Michigan assistant professor of
pathology who helped author the study.
"It suggests that this is a lethal biomarker, that it
portends aggressiveness," he said of the findings,
published in the journal Nature.
Chinnaiyan said that if a test can be developed, determining
concentrations of EZH2 proteins in human patients could let
doctors know who needs aggressive treatment, which can include
radiation or surgery.
A recent study found that many men over 60 receive unnecessary
surgery and other treatments for prostate cancer even though the
disease is unlikely to progress far enough to cause health
problems.
Doctors now have several methods of diagnosing prostate cancer,
including a test that measure PSA, or the level of a
prostate-specific antigen in the blood. The researchers said
prevalence of EZH2 in the tumour cell was more accurate at
predicting a patient's survival than the PSA level.
While the gene appears to serve as a marker, its exact role in
tumour development remains unclear. The researchers speculated
that EZH2 may suppress other genes in cancer cells, some of
which may serve to slow the spread of the disease.
"It's just a piece of the puzzle, and there are going to be
a lot of little pieces like this in coming years," said
Thomas Wheeler, a pathology professor at Baylor University
College of Medicine, who was not connected to the study.
"But this gene does seem to be important over the whole
spectrum of prostate cancer, and that's the nice thing the
authors have done here -- they've studied the whole
spectrum," he added.
Prostate cancer is the second-deadliest form of cancer among
American men, behind lung cancer. Roughly 189,000 Americans are
diagnosed with the disease each year.
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Prostate Cancer Diagnosis What You Should Know
Gene
Predicts Prostate Cancer: Study
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