A revolutionary DNA prostate test can predict which men are at the greatest risk for the deadly disease.
The test is based on 14 known mutations that can significantly increase the odds of developing aggressive prostate cancer, the most common form of cancer in most countries.
Identifying which men need therapy and treatment is a challenge, but one that is necessary, the researchers note.
"We urgently need to understand more about which men are at risk of developing prostate cancer, and in particular aggressive forms of the disease," Dr. Iain Frame, the director of research at the charity Prostate Cancer UK, told BBC News.
The research team at the Institute of Cancer Research in London says men could soon be offered genetic screening for prostate cancer similar to the way women are tested for breast cancer.
The researchers conducted a test in which they took blood samples from 191 men with prostate cancer and tested them for several mutations, including the BRCA gene, which is involved in DNA repair and linked to ovarian and breast cancer.
The results, published in the British Journal of Cancer, show that 7 percent of the men had one of 14 high-risk mutations and that these same patients also had the aggressive form of the disease that spreads to other parts of the body.
Undergoing prostate removal surgery is an option, but with side effects like infertility, difficulty maintaining and keeping an erection, and uncontrolled urination, one of the researchers doubts many men will go down that route.
"A mastectomy is removing an organ we don't really need, and there is excellent plastic surgery afterwards. Radical prostatectomy has really big side effects. It is more likely men will be monitored more closely," Dr Zsofia Kote-Jarai said.
The screening, however, is not yet finished, and the research group is already underway with another study in which 192 genes are being tested in 2,000 men.
