Two susceptibility loci identified for prostate cancer aggressiveness

Nat Commun. 2015 May 5:6:6889. doi: 10.1038/ncomms7889.

Abstract

Most men diagnosed with prostate cancer will experience indolent disease; hence, discovering genetic variants that distinguish aggressive from nonaggressive prostate cancer is of critical clinical importance for disease prevention and treatment. In a multistage, case-only genome-wide association study of 12,518 prostate cancer cases, we identify two loci associated with Gleason score, a pathological measure of disease aggressiveness: rs35148638 at 5q14.3 (RASA1, P=6.49 × 10(-9)) and rs78943174 at 3q26.31 (NAALADL2, P=4.18 × 10(-8)). In a stratified case-control analysis, the SNP at 5q14.3 appears specific for aggressive prostate cancer (P=8.85 × 10(-5)) with no association for nonaggressive prostate cancer compared with controls (P=0.57). The proximity of these loci to genes involved in vascular disease suggests potential biological mechanisms worthy of further investigation.

Publication types

  • Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
  • Research Support, N.I.H., Intramural

MeSH terms

  • Case-Control Studies
  • Genetic Loci*
  • Genetic Predisposition to Disease*
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Neoplasm Grading
  • Neoplasm Invasiveness
  • Prostatic Neoplasms / genetics*
  • Prostatic Neoplasms / pathology*