ICR - The Institute of Cancer Research: Global Foundation

Researchers at the ICR have discovered a gene that could help predict the course of prostate cancer and guide the decision to treat it.

Many prostate tumors grow slowly and do not require immediate treatment, which can have adverse effects. Only a minority of these tumors spread rapidly and are potentially fatal. These require aggressive treatment. A grading system, called the ‘Gleason score’, can guide the decision to treat, but new markers to identify aggressive disease are needed.

The ICR study of 455 men with early stage prostate cancer revealed that men with abnormalities in their ERG gene had a poor chance of survival compared to men whose genes lacked these changes. Prostate cancers commonly contain a fusion of two normal genes called TMPRSS2 and ERG. The study showed that two copies of this abnormality in ERG, known as 2+Edel, are found in 6.6% of prostate cancers. This is equivalent to 1,800 UK prostate cancer patients each year. Patients with 2+Edel only have a 25% chance of survival after eight years, compared to 90% for patients without 2+Edel.

The work was led by Colin Cooper, Grand Charity of Freemasons Professor of Molecular Biology at the ICR and Professor Jack Cuzick at the Wolfson Institute of Preventive Medicine, Queen Mary, University of London. Professor Cooper said; "We hope that in the next few years screening for 2+Edel will be incorporated into clinical practice and used alongside current techniques, such as Gleason scoring, at the time of diagnosis to decide whether men require treatment or not."