STUDY:

JOURNAL: Int J Cancer 2003;107.

AUTHORS: Dr. Deborah Watkins Bruner

ABSTRACT: Having a brother with prostate cancer is a stronger risk factor for the malignancy than having other affected family members.

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COMMENTARY: "Unlike the maternal-child pattern that we see with inherited breast cancers, a brother with prostate cancer was associated with a significantly increased risk of the disease compared to a father or any other relative with the disease," lead author Dr. Deborah Watkins Bruner said in a statement.

This may suggest that the risk may be related to shared environmental factors such as dietary exposures or age of onset of disease, which might reveal a stronger genetic risk.

The new findings are based on a systemic review and meta-analysis of 24 studies that looked at the relative risk of prostate cancer when different family members were affected.

Compared with having no family history of prostate cancer, having any relative with the disease raised the risk by 93%. If a first-degree relative was involved a 120% increase in risk was seen, whereas disease in a second-degree relative raised the risk by 88%.

Having a father with prostate cancer was associated with a 2.1 relative risk of the disease. Although high, this was significantly lower than the relative risk seen with an affected brother -- 2.9.

The new findings could be used to better gauge prostate cancer risk and could potentially reduce unnecessary screening and biopsies.