Editor's Choice Academic Journal Main Category: Prostate / Prostate Cancer Also Included In: Genetics Article Date: 09 Oct 2012 - 0:00 PDT
Current ratings for: Prostate Cancer Severity Predicted With Two Genetic Signatures
3.5 (4 votes)
4.5 (2 votes)
The authors explain that unique RNA patterns seem to be able to predict the course of prostate cancer, pointing either towards an aggressive disease or a milder form. RNA (ribonucleic acid) is the genetic material that helps convert DNA into proteins.
Prostate cancer affects patients in many different ways. Some develop the disease and do not know because they have no symptoms, some may respond extremely well to treatment, while others have types that resist all treatment and progress regardless.
Castration-resistant prostate cancer does not respond to standard androgen deprivation therapy. Survival times with this type of cancer vary considerably from patient-to-patient. Nobody really knows why.
Current diagnostic tests can tell, to a certain extent, whether or not a prostate cancer is likely to be an aggressive one. However, their accuracy can only be described as "moderate".
A distinctive nine-gene pattern which was linked to castration-resistant prostate cancer patients was accurately detected - those patients survived for an average of 9.2 months after referral for treatment, compared to those without the genetic pattern who survived for 21.6 months.
They identified a set of six genes linked to an aggressive form of prostate cancer in 62 patients at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, USA.
See the article here:
Prostate Cancer Severity Predicted With Two Genetic Signatures