High risk genes predisposing to prostate cancer development — do they exist?

Department of Medicine,Montreal General Hospital, Montreal, Quebec, CanadaThere is evidence for genetic predisposition to prostate cancer. However, prostatecancer genes have been more difficult to find than genes for some of the othercommon cancers, such as breast and colon cancer. The reasons for this arediscussed in this article and it is now becoming clear that prostate cancer isprobably due to multiple genes, many of which are moderate or low penetrance.The advances in the Human Genome Project and technology, especially that ofrobotics, will help to overcome these problems. Prostate Cancer and ProstaticDiseases (2000) 3, 241–247.Keywords: prostate cancer; genetics; high risk genes; low risk genes