Cancer Research UK scientists have, for the first time, identified that there are five distinct types of prostate cancer and found a way to distinguish between them. The findings could have important implications for how doctors treat prostate cancer in the future, by identifying tumours that are more likely to grow and spread aggressively through the body.
The researchers, from the Cancer Research UK Cambridge Institute and Addenbrooke’s Hospital, studied samples of healthy and cancerous prostate tissue from more than 250 men. By looking for abnormal chromosomes and measuring the activity of 100 different genes linked to the disease they were able to group the tumours into five distinct types, each with a characteristic genetic fingerprint.
This analysis was better at predicting which cancers were likely to be the most aggressive than the tests currently used by doctors.
