Prostate cancer

Prostate cancer (PrCa) is the most common, non-skin cancer, among men in the Western world. It is currently estimated that 1 in 6 men will develop PrCa during their lifetime. Epidemiological studies have identified a positive family history and race/ethnicity as the most prominent risk factors for PrCa.

Inherited factors are thought to underly up to 60% of the PrCa risk, exemplifying its high heritability. This inherited risk includes both the risk from common genetic variants (polymorphisms) and the risk from pathogenic variants in moderate-risk and high-risk genes. Indeed, the majority of inherited risk is conferred by genetic polymorphisms, which are common in the general population. Each of these polymorphisms provides only a slight increase in PrCa risk. Additionally, a subset of affected individuals, harbor a rare, deleterious variants located in specific genes (moderate-risk and high-risk genes).

In order to dissect the germline predisposition of Prostate cancer we work in close collaboration with the Prostate Cancer Association Group to Investigate Cancer Associated Alterations in the Genome (PRACTICAL).

The PRACTICAL consortium was formed by a collaborative group of researchers interested in inherited risk of PrCa with the goal of identifying genetic variants that may be related to the risk of PrCa.