Scientists Identify Five Different Types of Prostate Cancer

A team of British scientists has been trying to learn more about prostate cancer and according to their research there are at least five different types of prostate cancer. Their findings suggest that each type has a distinct genetic fingerprint. The researchers said the new findings could help them learn more about this type of disease and will be able to identify the most aggressive forms of the cancer. This way they can provide the patient with a treatment as soon as possible so that the disease won’t spread.

According to Alastair Lamb, researcher at the University of Cambridge’s Cancer Research department and the lead author of the study, the findings show that prostate cancer is classifiable and there are five different types, each with its own genetic material. Lamb added that the new study could help the scientists come up with a personalized treatment depending on the type of prostate cancer each patient has.

For the new study the researchers analyzed samples of prostate tissue collected from 250 healthy and cancer patients. They looked for any abnormal chromosomes and measured the activity of over 100 distinct genes that were linked to the disease. After examining all the data, the researchers were able to identify five different types of prostate tumors.

According to the scientists who conducted the study, they were able to predict which type of cancer was likely to be more aggressive than other. This analysis proved more efficient than previous ones at detecting and identifying the more aggressive forms of prostate cancer. Lamb said the next step of the research would be to confirm the results in bigger studies and learn more about each type of prostate cancer.

The researchers wrote in their paper that they need to carry out further studies in order to learn more about how each of these different diseases behave so that they can start working on developing more effective treatments. This way they will be able to better treat the cancer patients, saving more lives.

The researchers published the findings of their study on prostate cancer in the medical journal EbioMedicine.

Recent reports suggest that more than 41,000 men in the United Kingdom are diagnosed with prostate cancer and more than 10,000 of them die because of it. It is the most common type of cancers among men in the U.K, statistics show.
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