An Update on Genetic Predisposition for Prostate Cancer: Perspectives and Prospects

Prostate cancer (PC) is a heterogeneous disease that kills a significant number of people all over the world. It is the most common cancer in men, especially in the western world, and causes morbidity and mortality. There are several important risk factors known for PC like age, ethnicity, and inherited genetic variants which contribute significantly. The current research studies are endeavoring to identify genetic markers for PC and to understand underlying molecular mechanisms, so that new diagnostic and screening tests based on genetics can be developed for PC. The present review discusses candidate genes such as HOXB13, BRCA1, BRCA2, ATM, MMR gene, RAD51C, CHECK2, etc., and family-based linkage studies which defined the location of loci on chromosomal regions like 1q24-25, 1q42-43, Xq27-28, 1p36, 20q13, 17q21. Furthermore, the major part of the review focuses on important PC susceptible loci (8q24, 10q11, 17q12, 17q24, and 19q13, etc.) and risk variants identified by population-based genome-wide association studies (GWAS).