Inherited Genetic Changes in Prostate Cancer

Although the vast majority of prostate cancer cases are sporadic in nature, there is mounting evidence strongly supporting the existence of prostate cancer genetic risk factors. These genetic risk factors come in two flavors, rare highly penetrant mutations and common low-penetrant variants. Major research studies in the area of hereditary prostate cancer (HPC) are underway to help elucidate the rare highly penetrant alleles, which segregate in families with multiple affected family members. Likewise, several large cohort studies have been recently initiated to search for common low-penetrant variants in the