As men age, prostate epithelial cells are subjected to substantialstresses, and these stresses can damage DNA, thereby causingcellular transformation. The aging prostate gland acquires numerousfoci of cancer cells that arise from distinct clonal transformationevents.1 That most of these foci never develop into clinicallydetectable cancer is consistent with the frequent finding ofprostate cancer during autopsies of asymptomatic men in whomthe condition was never diagnosed.2
Susceptibility to prostate cancer has a clear heritable component:men are at an increased risk for the disease if they have afirst-degree relative with prostate cancer. The more relatives. . . [Full Text of this Article]
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From the Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center, Columbia University Medical Center, New York.
This article (10.1056/NEJMe0708703) was published at www.nejm.org on January 16, 2008.
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Five Genetic Variants Associated with Prostate Cancer
Coates R. J., Khoury M. J., Gwinn M., Gartner C. E., Barendregt J. J., Hall W. D., Janssens A. C. J.W., van Duijn C. M., Severi G., Byrnes G. B., Hopper J. L., Thorat M. A., Vickers A., Lilja H., Scardino P., Eisinger F., Xu J., Isaacs W. B., Grönberg H.
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N Engl J Med 2008;
358:2738-2741, Jun 19, 2008.
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