Early-onset hereditary prostate cancer is not associated with specific clinical and biological features.

BACKGROUND: Familial prostate cancer (CaP) accounts for 15-20% of all CaP, and hereditary CaP for 5-10% of patients. Few data are available concerning their clinical and biological features. METHODS: We compared diagnostic modalities, age, clinical stage, PSA, and tumor grade at diagnosis in CaP patients according to familial CaP profile: hereditary (HR) (> or =3 CaP), familial nonhereditary (FNH) (= 2 CaP), and sporadic CaP. Only cases diagnosed after January 1, 1987 (PSA-available period) were included. We considered as informative sporadic (IS) cases those probands with 2+ nonaffected brothers at least 50 years old. Finally, 267 CaP (230 probands and 37 affected brothers) were studied. RESULTS: In multivariate analysis, the only specific parameter significantly associated with HR and FNH CaP was early age at diagnosis; mean ages were 65.3 years (HR), 67 years (FNH), and 70.9 years (IS) (P < 0. 0001). No significant difference was observed concerning clinical stage, PSA, and tumor grade. In addition, diagnostic modalities were similar in the three groups. CONCLUSIONS: Our data confirm the occurrence of early-onset CaP in hereditary families. Although the clinical and biological presentation of HR CaP remains controversial, the lack of specific features observed in our study leads us to conclude that there is no difference in the aggressiveness of the disease in hereditary compared to sporadic CaP.