Study narrows search for genes placing men at increased risk for prost...( Baltimore MD principal investigator ...)

"The large number of prostate cancer families utilized in this study allowed us to overcome the challenges we have faced in this field for the past few years," says Dr. Jianfeng Xu, one of the lead authors on the paper and a researcher at Wake Forest University School of Medicine. "This study shows that hereditary prostate cancer genes exist and demonstrates that by working together, teams of researchers are able to locate these genes. These results give us a renewed confidence in our search for prostate cancer genes."

"These are exciting times," says Dr. John Carpten, Senior Investigator and Director of TGen's Prostate Cancer Research Program. "Prostate cancer has turned out to be a formidable enemy to all men. We look forward to maturing this research in order to help discover new genetic diagnostic tools for prostate cancer susceptibility in hopes of one day winning the war against this awful disease."

The study was the result of an increasing trend in genomic research: an extensive international collaboration of scientists from multiple institutions. Large-scale collaborative studies like this are increasingly common in complex disorders that have a huge impact on public health, such as cancer, heart disease, diabetes, and mental health disorders like autism. Complex disorders involve more than one gene--often many--and a host of environmental factors, which makes them particularly hard to investigate.

Dr. Richard N. Atkins, President & CEO of the National Prostate Cancer Coalition, noted: "We applaud public and private investments that lead to new discoveries to save lives. Sadly, prostate cancer remains the most common occurring malignancy in America - othe
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Contact: Galen P. Perry
gperry@tgen.org
602-343-8423
The Translational Genomics Research Institute
17-Aug-2004