Iceland's Decode finds prostate cancer risk gene

LONDON (Reuters) - Scientists at Iceland's Decode Genetics Inc. have identified a genetic variant that may account for about 8 percent of prostate cancers, marking a step forward in understanding the disease.

Researchers at the biotech company and academic colleagues reported their findings in the online edition of Nature Genetics on Monday.

It is the first time that scientists have identified a major genetic risk factor for prostate cancer -- the most common cancer in men -- within the general population.

One in five men of European ancestry with prostate cancer carry at least one copy of the variant, which confers an approximately 60 percent increased risk of the disease, the researchers said. The variant confers roughly the same increase in risk among African Americans but it is twice as common.

"This discovery is important from a medical standpoint because the only firmly established risk factors for the disease until now have been age, family history and ethnicity," said Decode Chief Executive Kari Stefansson.

The variant appears to be associated with the development of more aggressive prostate tumours, so a diagnostic test for it may enable doctors to make more informed decisions about how closely they should monitor patients at high risk.

Decode, which specialises in using population studies to find the genetic basis of disease, plans to use the discovery to develop such a test.