Research for the future of Prostate Cancer

A study entitled “Research on Prostate Cancer in Men of African Ancestry: Defining the Roles of Genetics, Tumor Markers, and Social Stress (RESPOND) started by National Institutes of Health entities (the National Cancer Institute and the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities) and the Prostate Cancer Foundation.

Program director Damali N. Martin, Ph.D., MPH genomic epidemiology branch of the National Cancer Institute (NCI), told Healthline “This is a five-year grant, so, at the end of five years, we expect to have a better understanding of the social and genetic variants that contribute to aggressive prostate cancer, and how those factors interact with each other.”

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Martin went on to say that it’ll be some time before researchers come to any conclusions, the knowledge gained will be used to come up with treatment strategies as well as identify men who are at a higher risk.

“We hope that increased knowledge of the factors that cause prostate cancer will provide us with new ways to identify African-American men, and men in general, who are at risk of developing aggressive prostate cancer, and hopefully also help us in terms of the development of positive screening and prevention strategies.”

Researchers are planning to enroll 10,000 Black men with prostate cancer into the study, where various social, environmental, and genetic factors will be examined.

Possible causes?

While leaders in the cancer researchers have known for many years that Black men are more susceptible to prostate cancer, there’s an abundance of potential reasons why.

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Dr. Steven Clinton, director of genitourinary oncology at The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center explained to Healthline:

“Although many people have theorized as to what factors may contribute to it, we still have almost a blank page as to understanding why there is a disparity.”

“The table is full of hypotheses, ideas, and concepts about what factors contribute. I don’t think there’s going to be one, I think there will be multiple factors, and now’s the time to invest in understanding it so we can eliminate this very significant disparity in cancer risk and dying from prostate cancer.”

Both Clinton and Martin believe that the cause for the disparity isn’t a single factor, but a multitude of factors. With efforts such as RESPOND study will examine the genetic factors like DNA and tumor samples that may play a part in the disparity. Their research will also look into environmental factors i.e. discrimination, adversity, segregation, and other environmental stressors.

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