Prostate news article, February 2006
| (IGF1) GENE MAY BE ASSOCIATED WITH
THE RISK OF PROSTAT CANCER Published in The Journal of the National Cancer Institute Reported by: Professor Roger S Kirby |
A new study suggests that genetic variation in the insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF1) gene may be associated with the risk of prostate cancer.
Earlier studies have shown that men with the highest circulating levels of IGF-I, the product of the IGF1 gene, are at an increased risk of developing prostate cancer. It was not known, however, if variations in the IGF1 gene were associated with an increased risk of developing prostate cancer.
Matthew Freedman, M.D., at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT in Cambridge, and colleagues, examined specific variations in the IGF1 gene called single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) largely derived from a public SNP database in 4610 individuals with and without prostate cancer. They identified two specific polymorphisms on the IGF1 gene that were associated with an increased risk of prostate cancer. "Our results suggest that inherited variation in IGF1 may play a role in prostate cancer risk," they write.
The Journal of the National Cancer Institute:http://jncicancerspectrum.oxfordjournals.org.