Prostate cancer (PC) is the most common malignancy in males.
It is evident that genetic factors at both germline and somatic levels play critical roles in prostate carcinogenesis. Recently, genome-wide association studies (GWAS) by high-throughput genotyping technology have identified more than 70 germline variants on various genes or chromosome loci that are significantly associated with PC susceptibility. They include multiple 8q24 loci, prostate-specific genes, and metabolism-related genes. Somatic alterations in PC genome have been explored by high-throughput sequencing technologies such as whole genome sequencing and RNA sequencing, which have identified a variety of androgen-response events and fusion transcripts represented by ETS gene fusions. Recent innovations in high-throughput genomic technologies have enabled us to analyze PC genomics more comprehensively, more precisely, and on a larger scale in multiple ethnic groups to increase our understanding of PC genomics and biology in germline and somatic studies, which can ultimately lead to personalized medicine for PC diagnosis, prevention, and therapy. However, these data indicate that the PC genome is more complex and heterogeneous than we expected from GWAS and sequencing analyses.
Written by:
Nakagawa H. Are you the author?
Laboratory for Biomarker Development, Center for Genomic Medicine, RIKEN, Tokyo, 108-8639, Japan.
Reference: Endocr Relat Cancer. 2013 Apr 26. Epub ahead of print.
doi: 10.1530/ERC-13-0113
PubMed Abstract
PMID: 23625613
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