Finding proteins linked to known prostate cancer driver genes in blood collected years before diagnosis gives us new insights into the earliest stages of the disease<\/p>\n
Karl Smith-Byrne<\/p>\n
The researchers also identified seven proteins linked to aggressive prostate cancer. One protein, ANKRD1, was consistently linked to several serious forms of the disease, including cancers that had spread or were ultimately fatal. Other findings pointed to processes involved in how cancer cells interact with surrounding tissue and how new blood vessels form.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Dr Zhe Huang, first author of the study and a postdoctoral epidemiologist at Oxford Population Health, said: \u201cProstate cancer is not one disease. Many prostate cancers grow slowly and may never cause harm, while others are aggressive and can be life-threatening. By measuring thousands of proteins in blood collected years before diagnosis, we can begin to investigate how men who later develop aggressive prostate cancer may differ from men who do not. Ultimately, we hope this will help us understand the biology of aggressive prostate cancer and identify markers that could improve how we assess risk in the future.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
The study also found links with blood levels of proteins produced by genes already known to be important in prostate cancer, including ERBB3, KRAS and NRAS. These proteins were particularly linked to aggressive prostate cancer diagnosed around a decade later. This does not mean cancer was already present when the blood was collected, but the findings may provide clues to biological changes associated with the future development of the disease.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Professor Karl Smith-Byrne, a senior author of the study, said: \u201cFinding proteins linked to known prostate cancer driver genes in blood collected years before diagnosis gives us new insights into the earliest stages of the disease. Together with existing and future genetic evidence, these findings may help us identify biological pathways that could be targeted to prevent aggressive prostate cancer.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
The researchers compared their results with other large population studies and genetic evidence to test the robustness of their findings. Several findings were supported by these additional analyses, although not all could be confirmed. The proteins identified are not yet suitable for use as clinical tests; most associations were modest and further studies are needed to establish whether they could improve prediction of clinically significant prostate cancer.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Cancer Research UK part-funded the research. Dr Iain Foulkes, executive director of research and innovation at the charity, said: \u201cProstate cancer is one of the biggest cancer killers of men, yet we still don\u2019t fully understand why some tumours grow slowly and may never cause harm, while others become aggressive and life-threatening. Understanding what drives these differences is crucial if we are to identify those most at risk and ultimately save more lives. This research offers important new clues. By analysing thousands of proteins in blood samples collected years before diagnosis, scientists have opened a fascinating window into the biology of the disease, including the possible role of our immune system. While there is more work to do, discoveries like this could pave the way for better ways to identify men at risk and, ultimately, prevent aggressive prostate cancer before it develops.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Future research through the Prostate Cancer Aetiology and Prevention Programme (PCAP), funded by Cancer Research UK, will investigate whether these findings could ultimately contribute to better ways of predicting or preventing prostate cancer. Professor Ruth Travis, one of the PCAP programme leads, said: \u201cFor the first time, technologies that allow us to measure thousands of proteins simultaneously are giving us unprecedented insight into the earliest stages of prostate cancer development. Combined with large, long-term population studies, they allow us to look back many years before diagnosis and investigate the biological changes associated with future cancer risk. Understanding these processes is a critical step towards developing new strategies to prevent prostate cancer.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Source:\u00a0Oxford Population Health\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Finding proteins linked to known prostate cancer driver genes in blood collected years before diagnosis gives us new…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":640814,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[134,111,139,69,314156,314155,314154],"class_list":["post-640813","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health","tag-health","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-presented-at-geneticssociety-bsky-social-annual-meeting-ashg26","tag-presented-at-the-geneticssociety-039s-annual-meeting-ashg26-broxpop-bsky-social","tag-x-presented-at-the-geneticssociety-039s-annual-meeting-ashg26-broxpopulationhealth"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/640813","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=640813"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/640813\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/640814"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=640813"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=640813"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=640813"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}