Medical Design and Outsourcing

  • Home
  • Medical Device Business
    • Mergers & Acquisitions
    • Financial
    • Regulatory
  • Applications
    • Cardiovascular
    • Devices
    • Imaging
    • Implantables
    • Medical Equipment
    • Orthopedic
    • Surgical
  • Technologies
    • Supplies and Components Index
    • Contract Manufacturing
    • Components
    • Electronics
    • Extrusions
    • Materials
    • Motion Control
    • Prototyping
    • Pumps
    • Tubing
  • MedTech Resources
    • Medtech Events in 2025
    • The 2024 Medtech Big 100
    • Medical Device Handbook
    • MedTech 100 Index
    • Subscribe to Print Magazine
    • DeviceTalks
    • Digital Editions
    • eBooks
    • Manufacturer Search
    • Podcasts
    • Print Subscription
    • Webinars / Digital Events
    • Whitepapers
    • Voices
    • Video
  • 2025 Leadership
    • 2024 Winners
    • 2023 Winners
    • 2022 Winners
    • 2021 Winners
  • Women in Medtech
  • Advertise
  • Subscribe

New Gene Research Helps Pinpoint Prostate Cancer Risk

September 17, 2014 By Queensland University of Technology

A global study of 80,000 men with prostate cancer has identified another 23 prostate cancer risk loci

Scientists could soon better predict a man’s risk of getting prostate cancer after a worldwide team of researchers carried out the largest-ever analysis of the cancer’s genetic biomarkers, reported in Nature Genetics today.

QUT Institute of Health and Biomedical Innovation’s Dr Jyotsna Batra and Distinguished Professor Judith Clements, who led the Australian researchers in the large consortia of research hubs around the world, said the teams analysed more than 10 million genetic markers in 80,000 men.

“It’s the largest analysis of genetic biomarkers ever done. We found another 23 new prostate cancer risk loci (sites) on the genome in addition to the 76 identified previously,” Dr Batra said.

“We now have 100 genetic regions and no other cancer has had this many loci identified to be associated with it. What we are looking for is the combination effect of how these loci work together and how much they can explain the heritability of prostate cancer.

“The indications are that these genetic variants explain 33 per cent of the familial risk of the disease.

“These are low-risk gene variants but what we have learnt is you can’t rely on just one gene to predict risk. You have to look at the total of the 100.

“The top one per cent of men with these variants have a 5.7-fold relative risk compared with the population average.” Dr Batra said that, in addition to family history, incorporating information regarding carrier status of these 100 risk variants could be valuable in defining risk levels in targeted screening and prevention programs for prostate cancer.

She said the multi-ethnic analysis of 80,000 individuals with prostate cancer found some risk variants were more common in different ethnic populations.

“The aggressive form is prevalent in Africa and we found some risk genes specific to African populations,” she said.

“Of the 23 new variants we found 15 were in men of European ancestry and seven in the multi-ethnic analyses.”

Dr Batra said the sufferers of the non-aggressive form of prostate cancer outnumbered those with the aggressive form in the sample of 80,000 men.

“Only 10 per cent of prostate cancers were the aggressive form in the current analysis,” she said.

“So far, we haven’t identified the loci for the aggressive form of the disease – research is ongoing on this. The next sample set will have more than 100,000 people with prostate cancer,” she said.

“Being able to predict the aggressive form before it goes on to spread is a goal of the future research because even after the prostate is removed a few cells can go on to kill the person.”

Dr Batra, who was awarded the 2014 Mahatma Gandhi Pravasi Samman award for her ground-breaking research, said this latest published paper involving 90 institutes with approximately 150 researchers illustrated a new way of research.

“These large-scale collaborations by researchers using huge datasets from around the world are absolutely reliable and applicable to large populations. We will see more of it in future.”

Related Articles Read More >

A photo of Capstan Medical's mitral valve implant, which uses nitinol.
Capstan Medical’s R&D head discusses the heart valve and robotics startup’s tech, engineering challenges and solutions, advice for others in medtech and how to join his team
An illustration of a neurosurgeon using a robotic endoscope to remove a brain tumor.
MDO Nitinol Innovation Special Report
A photo of Highridge Medical CEO Rebecca Whitney.
Highridge Medical is betting on this spine tech
A photo of the miniature Auxilium Biotechnologies implants made on the International Space Station.
Implants 3D-printed in space could enable nerve regeneration
“mdo
EXPAND YOUR KNOWLEDGE AND STAY CONNECTED
Get the latest medical device business news, application and technology trends.

DeviceTalks Weekly

See More >

MDO Digital Edition

Digital Edition

Subscribe to Medical Design & Outsourcing. Bookmark, share and interact with the leading medical design engineering magazine today.

MEDTECH 100 INDEX

Medtech 100 logo
Market Summary > Current Price
The MedTech 100 is a financial index calculated using the BIG100 companies covered in Medical Design and Outsourcing.
DeviceTalks

DeviceTalks is a conversation among medical technology leaders. It's events, podcasts, webinars and one-on-one exchanges of ideas & insights.

DeviceTalks

New MedTech Resource

Medical Tubing

MassDevice

Mass Device

The Medical Device Business Journal. MassDevice is the leading medical device news business journal telling the stories of the devices that save lives.

Visit Website
MDO ad
Medical Design and Outsourcing
  • MassDevice
  • DeviceTalks
  • MedTech100 Index
  • Medical Tubing + Extrusion
  • Medical Design Sourcing
  • Drug Delivery Business News
  • Drug Discovery & Development
  • Pharmaceutical Processing World
  • R&D World
  • About Us/Contact
  • Advertise With Us
  • Subscribe to Print Magazine
  • Subscribe to our E-Newsletter
  • Listen to our Weekly Podcasts
  • Join our DeviceTalks Tuesdays Discussion

Copyright © 2025 WTWH Media, LLC. All Rights Reserved. The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of WTWH Media LLC. Site Map | Privacy Policy | RSS

Search Medical Design & Outsourcing

  • Home
  • Medical Device Business
    • Mergers & Acquisitions
    • Financial
    • Regulatory
  • Applications
    • Cardiovascular
    • Devices
    • Imaging
    • Implantables
    • Medical Equipment
    • Orthopedic
    • Surgical
  • Technologies
    • Supplies and Components Index
    • Contract Manufacturing
    • Components
    • Electronics
    • Extrusions
    • Materials
    • Motion Control
    • Prototyping
    • Pumps
    • Tubing
  • MedTech Resources
    • Medtech Events in 2025
    • The 2024 Medtech Big 100
    • Medical Device Handbook
    • MedTech 100 Index
    • Subscribe to Print Magazine
    • DeviceTalks
    • Digital Editions
    • eBooks
    • Manufacturer Search
    • Podcasts
    • Print Subscription
    • Webinars / Digital Events
    • Whitepapers
    • Voices
    • Video
  • 2025 Leadership
    • 2024 Winners
    • 2023 Winners
    • 2022 Winners
    • 2021 Winners
  • Women in Medtech
  • Advertise
  • Subscribe