Hereditary prostate and breast cancers may be linked, study shows

HEREDITARY breast and prostate cancer may be linked, new research has found.

Scientists have discovered that both develop the same way in men and women with a faulty BRCA2 gene. Involved in DNA repair, the gene is known to play a role in breast, ovarian and prostate cancers.

Researchers funded by the charity Cancer Research UK pinpointed cancer-causing DNA defects in male mice genetically engineered to lack BRCA2 in their prostate glands. Prostate cells from the "knock-out" mice accumulated DNA damage faster than it could be repaired.

Over time, the disrupted DNA was expected to lead to powerful anti-tumour genes being damaged, triggering cancer.

The same process involving BRCA2 can lead to hereditary breast cancer in women.

The research was reported yesterday in the online journal Public Library of Science Genetics. Study leader Dr Amanda Swain, from the Institute of Cancer Research in London and Sutton, Surrey, said: "The discovery that BRCA2 alterations play the same role in the development of hereditary prostate cancer as they do in breast cancer is an important step.

"This could help highlight overlapping areas where similar treatments could be used to treat both."