According to a study performed by scientists from University of California, it was revealed that a simple blood or urine test may identify men with genetically inherited risk for prostate cancer. The study was published in the journal Cancer Discovery.

To prove the scientists compared 7,783 men with prostate cancer to 38,595 men without the disease. They analysed genetic samples and health records from more than 100,000 volunteers, making it one of the largest research projects in the US to examine the genetic, health and environmental factors that influence common diseases such as prostate cancer. The researchers modelled prostate cancer risk using 105 specific bits of DNA that commonly vary among individuals and that they confirmed are associated with prostate cancer risk.
 
The researchers found that a combination of these DNA variants that placed men among the highest 10 per cent for risk were more than six times as likely to be diagnosed with prostate cancer compared to the men who ranked among the lowest 10 per cent for prostate cancer risk.

“We developed a risk model that may have clinical value,” said John Witte, a UCSF professor of epidemiology and biostatistics and of urology.

By Lizitha