Some men of African descent may have a higher genetic risk of developing prostate cancer

A genome-wide association study has found a marker of risk for prostate cancer in men of African descent, who tend to more susceptible to prostate cancer than men of non-African descent. The research turned up a novel risk variant on chromosome 17q21. The frequency of this marker is 5% in men of African ancestry but is rare in other populations. The discovery builds on findings of a risk region on chromosome 8q24, which also contains clues as to why more men in this population are likely to develop prostate cancer. The findings support the need for additional genome-wide investigations to locate risk markers that are common or rare, which may play a role in racial and ethnic disease disparities.