Scientists have recently identified a gene set believed to play a crucial role in causing prostate cancer. 
This discovery has been warmly welcomed by the medical community as it transforms the traditional understanding of the genetic origins of this disease.
Mark Rubin, director of pathology at Boston Medical Center and one of the researchers involved in the study, stated that if modern medicine had detected this issue earlier, the vicious prostate cancer that exclusively affects men could have been effectively prevented long ago.
Professor Michael Heinrich from the Oregon Health and Science University remarked, “This is an astonishing discovery. It will be a golden key to preventing prostate cancer. Uncovering this unique genetic code will help us understand the entire issue surrounding this disease, and it is also related to many other treatment methods.” Currently, in the United States alone, approximately 232,000 men are diagnosed with prostate cancer each year.
Until now, doctors have believed that the causes of cancer were due to random genetic mutations, but this study is the first to demonstrate that prostate cancer arises after certain genes have fused together.
The researchers identified about 80% of the fused genes responsible for this condition from 29 prostate cancer samples, and no similar gene samples were found in 50 samples from non-cancerous individuals.
This finding is set to significantly change the treatment methods for prostate cancer, a disease that has long been perceived and treated as an independent cancer type. Doctors have also been treating breast cancer using similar methods as those for prostate cancer.
Chinnaiyan and his colleagues discovered that these fused genes currently exist only in prostate tissue, and they are working to determine whether such genes are present in blood or urine.
Chinnaiyan and his team hope that these genes will provide physicians with early information regarding the emergence of dangerous tumors, allowing for proactive treatment strategies. This is also good news for men, as the identification of the disease-causing gene will lead to more accurate and appropriate treatment options.
THIÊN TRANG (USA Today)
