Researchers spot genetic fingerprint identifying how prostate cancer spreads

TORONTO — Canadian researchers have identified a genetic fingerprint that explains why up to almost a third of men with potentially curable localized prostate cancer develop aggressive disease that spreads following initial treatment.

Co-principal investigator Dr. Robert Bristow of Toronto’s Princess Margaret Cancer Centre says the discovery could help doctors personalize more effective, targeted therapies from the moment a man is diagnosed with prostate cancer.

The study published online Monday in the journal Nature analyzed the tumours of 500 Canadian men in the general population with localized, non-inherited prostate cancer.

Researchers used DNA sequencing techniques to understand how prostate tumours differed from one man to another, giving them clues as to what kind of treatments would improve chances of a cure.

And in a related study published Monday, Bristow and collaborators report on how they cracked the genetic code to show why prostate cancer caused by the inherited BRCA2 gene mutation often turns lethal.

Bristow says the next step will be to translate the findings into a diagnostic tool that can be used in the clinic.

“We will be testing 500 more men over the next two to three years to accomplish that,” he said. “We will soon be able to identify in the clinic the exact genetic state of a man’s cancer and react on a patient-to-patient basis to cure more men worldwide.”

Prostate cancer is the most common malignancy among Canadian men and the third leading cause of cancer deaths in males, after lung and colorectal cancers.

An estimated 21,600 men were diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2016, and about 4,000 died from the disease.