The National Cancer Institute (NCI), part of the National Institutes of Health, has released new data from the Cancer Genetic Markers of Susceptibility (CGEMS) study on prostate cancer. This information could help identify genetic factors that influence the disease and will be integral to the discovery and development of new, targeted therapies. This is also the first public release of a whole genome association study of cancer – such studies examine the entire genome, with no assumptions about which genetic alterations cause cancer.
?Knowing which genes are most likely to lead to cancer will greatly enhance our ability to diagnosis the disease at its earliest stages, as well as develop therapies to treat cancer when it is most vulnerable to attack,? said NCI Director John E. Niederhuber, M.D.
Launched in February 2006, CGEMS is the largest comprehensive initiative to identify genetic risk factors for breast and prostate cancers, which are two of the most frequently diagnosed cancers in the United States. By finding genetic variations that differ in frequency between patient and control groups, researchers can identify the location of multiple inherited genes that increase or decrease the risk of prostate cancer.