Faulty gene could be responsible for 1 in 20 cases of prostate cancer, medical journal says

July 7, 2016

Discovery paves the way for men to be offered a simple saliva test
Five per cent of men with advanced prostate cancer carry BRCA2 gene
Carriers would benefit from a new type of drug called PARP inhibitors
BRCA2 and BRCA1 genes are responsible for breast and ovarian cancer

Sophie Borland Health Editor For The Daily Mail

Published:
19:58 EST, 6 July 2016

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Updated:
02:54 EST, 7 July 2016

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The same BRCA2 and BRCA1 genes are also responsible for breast and ovarian cancer in women, and caused Angelina Jolie to get a double mastectomy

A gene similar to that carried by Angelina Jolie may be responsible for 1 in 20 cases of prostate cancer, researchers have found.

The discovery paves the way for men to be offered a simple saliva test as soon as they are diagnosed with cancer to determine their course of treatment.

Doctors from the Institute of Cancer Research in London found that 5 per cent of men with advanced prostate cancer carry the faulty BRCA2 gene.

But this means they would benefit from a new type of drug called PARP inhibitors which specifically targets the DNA.

And if men did have the gene, doctors would want to carry out saliva tests on their close relatives – women and men- to see if they were also carriers.

The same BRCA2 and BRCA1 genes are also responsible for breast and ovarian cancer in women.

In 2013, the actress Angelina Jolie announced she had undergone a double mastectomy after learning she carried the faulty BRCA1 gene and had an 87 per cent chance of developing breast cancer.

There is now growing evidence that many cases of cancer are caused by genes – rather than just being down to chance or lifestyle.

Today’s study published in the New England Journal of Medicine involved 692 men with advanced prostate cancer.

It found that 12 per cent had at least one genetic mutation, most commonly BRCA2 which affected 5 per cent.

Overall, they estimate that 0.3 per cent of all men carry the BRCA2 gene which is around 800,000 living in England.

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Professor Johann de Bono, who specialises in Experimental Cancer Medicine at the Institute of Cancer Research, London, said: ‘Our study has shown that a significant proportion of men with advanced prostate cancer are born with DNA repair mutations – and this could have important implications for patients.

‘Genetic testing for these mutations could identify men with advanced prostate cancer who may benefit from precision treatment.

‘We could offer these men drugs such as PARP inhibitors, which are effective in patients with certain DNA repair mutations and are showing important anti-tumour activity in ongoing clinical trials.

The discovery paves the way for men to be offered a simple saliva test as soon as they are diagnosed with cancer to determine their course of treatment. The same BRCA2 and BRCA1 genes are also responsible for breast and ovarian cancer in women

‘Where we find BRCA2 mutations, we could also offer genetic testing and counselling to relatives of the patient to consider how we can reduce their cancer risk.

‘We also need to establish the impact of having DNA repair defects on survival in men with prostate cancer, and whether we can predict who will develop severe disease, so we can design new treatment strategies to cure this disease.’

Professor Paul Workman, Chief Executive of the Institute of Cancer Research, London, said: ‘There is huge diversity in prostate cancers from patient to patient – some men live for decades with localised tumours, while in others cancers develop rapidly and spread round the body.

‘Genetic markers that can detect the patients at high risk are desperately needed to improve men’s survival chances.’