Researchers have identified a number of proteins associated with prostate cancer that could be targeted by drugs, the UK's Times reports. It notes that there are currently few treatments for prostate cancer.
A team of researchers in the UK sequenced the whole genomes of 112 primary and metastatic prostate cancer samples and combined the data they generated with that from three other datasets for a total 930 samples. As it reports this week in Nature Genetics, the team found 22 putative novel driver genes with coding mutations as well as noncoding mutations that appeared to contribute to the disease. The team also conducted a computational chemogenomic (canSAR) analysis of these mutations to find that 11 were already targeted by approved drugs, seven were the targets of investigational drugs, and 62 that could be new candidates for trials.
Co-senior author Rosalind Eeles from the Institute of Cancer Research in London tells the Times that the study found "a wealth of new information about prostate cancer."
"Our study will help focus our efforts on the areas that offer most promise for patient benefit," she adds.