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Summary Prostate cancer is the second most common cancer in men after lung cancer.
Scientists have found two distinct genetic signatures for prostate cancer that may help doctors predict which patients have aggressive tumors, and designed experimental blood tests to read those genetic signs like barcodes.The teams believe tests developed from the signatures could eventually be used to tell which patients need immediate treatment.Prostate cancer is a very diverse disease - some people live with it for years without symptoms but for others it can be aggressive and life-threatening, said Johann de Bono, who led a study at Britains Institute of Cancer Research. So its vital we develop reliable tests to tell the different types apart.Researchers in Britain and the United States found that by reading the patterns of genes switched on and off in blood cells, they could accurately detect which advanced prostate cancer patients had the worst survival rates.Prostate cancer is the second most common cancer in men after lung cancer. There were 899,000 new cases diagnosed worldwide in 2008, the last year for which there is full global data, according to the World Health Organisations International Agency for Research on Cancer.While many cases can progress quickly, spreading to other organs and becoming deadly, experts say as many as half of prostate cancers are likely to remain confined to the prostate and are unlikely to become life-threatening.The problem has always been knowing accurately, and at an early stage, which tumors are most likely to kill. Although tests for aggressive forms of prostate cancer already exist, experts say they are only moderately accurate.De Bono said scientists can learn more about prostate cancers by the signs they leave in blood. This allowed his team to develop a test potentially more accurate than those available now and easier for patients than taking a biopsy, he said.Our test reads the pattern of genetic activity like a barcode, picking up signs that a patient is likely to have a more aggressive cancer. Doctors should then be able to adjust the treatment they give accordingly, he said in a statement.
