Prostate cancer research has centered on finding the genetic roots of the disease for decades. It has long been known that a combination of genetic epigenetic and gene expression changes might raise the likelihood of developing prostate cancer.
Aggressive Prostate And Inherited Mutation: A Direct Link
The role of somatic copy number changes (SCNAs) structural rearrangements point mutations single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), and microRNAs are discussed in this study.
The capacity to establish novel biomarkers based on the identification of significant genetic changes allows for early and reliable detection of prostate cancer as well as risk classification of patients following their diagnosis. The concept of personalized medicine, sometimes known as individualized medicine, has received a lot of traction.
As a result, gaining a deeper knowledge of the genetic and metabolic processes that underpin prostate cancer growth opens the door to new treatments, including the prospect of patient-specific targeted therapy. Patients with the same Gleason score can have quite diverse fates, although the histologic grade is an essential predictor of tumor biology.
Patients with clinically localized prostate cancer have a phenotypically diverse natural history ranging from indolent tumors that don’t need therapy to extremely aggressive metastatic and ultimately lethal malignancy.
“TP53 is a suppressor gene for the tumor that detects DNA damage and serves as the “shield to the Genome. But such mutation is common to develop in cancers, and when its protection is lost, the cancers can go wild,” stated Dr. Colin Pritchard.
Some patients with prostate cancer have a hereditary component to their disease, which has been recognized. As a result, terms like “familial” and “hereditary” prostate cancer have been coined to distinguish them from more prevalent “sporadic” tumors. Having at least one first-degree relative with prostate cancer is considered familial prostate cancer.
A family with three affected generations, three first-degree relatives, or two relatives affected before the age of 55 years is considered to have hereditary prostate cancer. Furthermore, the incidence of prostate cancer varies by ethnicity and environmental factors, which will be examined later.
Overtreatment of clinically indolent prostate tumors can result in severe morbidity and a loss of quality of life for patients.
However, many people with locally advanced and metastatic prostate cancer continue to die. According to the Cancer Society, 23600 men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2013, with 3900 dying from the condition.
To better manage patients and deliver the appropriate treatment to the appropriate patient at the appropriate time, a better understanding of the genetic and molecular characteristics separating indolent from deadly prostate tumors is required.
“That rate is way higher than is seen in the average prostate cancer population,” Pritchard added. “It’s fairly rare to be diagnosed with prostate cancer at such a late stage.”
Despite its great prevalence, little is known about the causes of prostate cancer. Many genes have been linked to the development of sporadic and hereditary prostate cancer.
Unfortunately, due to the very varied disease, various implicated epidemiological factors, and advanced patient age upon diagnosis, attempts to identify a meaningful biomarker have thus far failed.
It is beyond the scope of this work to go over each of the genetic events or aberrations that may play a role in prostate cancer carcinogenesis. We focused on significant genetic abnormalities in both the germline and tumor DNA, as well as the involvement of epigenetic factors and microRNAs in prostate cancer progression.
The prevention of apoptosis is one of the most critical processes in carcinogenesis. At least ten distinct miRNAs have been discovered to be involved in this process.
A greater understanding of the genetic events that lead to prostate cancer will pave the way for more complex biomarkers to diagnose and risk stratify patients as well as therapeutic targets for the development of innovative treatments in the future.
