Tumor
samples from 10 men with prostate cancer were analyzed, allowing the
researchers to map a "family tree" of changes occurring at a genetic
level as the cancer develops.
The researchers also learned more about how the disease spreads through
the body and forms new tumors. They discovered that the first group of
cells that spread from the prostate continues to travel throughout the
body, developing new tumors as it goes.
"We gained a much broader view of prostate cancer by studying both the
original cancer and the cells that had spread to other parts of the body
in these men," says study author Prof. Ros Eeles from the Institute of
Cancer Reseach in London, UK. "And we found that all of the cells that
had broken free shared a common ancestor cell in the prostate."
Prostate cancer is the second most common cancer in American men behind skin cancer and the second most common cause of cancer death behind lung cancer. Around 1 in 7 men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer during their lifetime.
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