Towards a genetic risk-based prevention strategy for prostate cancer death

Prostate cancer remains one of the leading causes of cancer death. A major barrier to reducing death from prostate cancer is the lack of a clear prevention strategy. PSA testing has long been available, but has overall only had a modest impact on reducing prostate cancer mortality. New strategies are urgently needed.

We hypothesize that a more personalized prevention approach that take genetic predisposition into account may be the way forward.

Genetic testing has emerged as a powerful predictor for prostate cancer, in particular when multiple inherited genetic risk variants are combined into a polygenic risk score (PRS).

Men with a high PRS have a lifetime risk of prostate cancer exceeding 50% and are at increased risk of dying from the disease.

A tailored strategy may not only allow for early diagnosis and targeted treatment of potentially fatal cancers, but also provide additional motivation for healthy lifestyle behaviors which may lower the risk of prostate cancer death substantially.

The overarching aim of this project is to generate evidence-based knowledge that can be used for a new genetic risk-based prevention strategy for prostate cancer that focus on preventing development of metastatic disease and death.

The project center around evaluating and improving genetic risk-stratification for prostate cancer death, and on identifying ways for prevention among men at high genetic risk leveraging data from nearly 70,000 Swedish and U.S. men.