BRCA2 Mutation Ups Prostate Cancer Death Risk

Prostate cancer (PCa) patients with a BRCA2 mutation are more likely to die from the malignancy than those without the mutation, researchers reported online in the British Journal of Cancer. 

Mohammad R. Akbari, MD, of the Women's College Research Institute in Toronto, and colleagues identified 4,187 men who underwent a PCa biopsy from 1998 to 2010 as a result of an elevated PSA level or abnormal digital rectal examination.

They screened the entire BRCA2 gene for mutations and followed the men for death from PCa until December 2012. The 12-year PCa-specific survival rate was 61.8% for men with a BRCA2 mutation compared with 94.3% for men without a mutation.

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