Prostate cancer ‘Rosetta stone’ paves way to new therapies
By: John Lewis 
— almost 90% of metastatic prostate cancers have treatable defects —
A cancer genome sequencing study published last week in the prestigious journal Cell provides new and surprising information about metastatic prostate cancer that has become castration-resistant.
An international consortium of scientists pieced together the first comprehensive map of genetic mutations linked to metastatic prostate cancer from 150 patients and found that almost 90% of the men whose DNA they studied carried potentially treatable defects.
The findings suggest that these advanced cancers may be treated using a precision medicine approach, using a range of medicines that target specific gene mutations. Many of these medicines are already in use or undergoing clinical trials. They also learned that 8% of the men were born with genetic faults that predisposed them to prostate cancer, strengthening the case for screening people with a family history of the disease.
This research is groundbreaking because it provides solid evidence that there may be effective new treatment options for those with advanced prostate cancer who have become resistant to current therapies.
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