Many Genes combine to increase the risk of prostate cancer but selenium is protective

Many Genes combine to increase the risk of prostate cancer but selenium is protective

     Researchers from the Department of Urology at NYU and from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, the Brady Urological Institute and the Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center examined the effects of genes and prostate cancer risk. They looked at the impact of 20 genes involved with prostate cancer and what factors may offer protection if men had a risk from these genes in a population of 1,230 men with prostate cancer and 1,361 men without prostate cancer who functioned as controls for the study (a basis fro comparison).

Men with greater than 12 genes giving an increased risk of prostate cancer had a two-fold increased risk of prostate cancer and greater than a two-fold greater risk for advanced prostate cancer. Selenium cut the genetic risk of developing prostate cancer. Selenium actually strongly cut the risk of developing advanced prostate cancer in-half in these men. Eating vegetables or taking ibuprofen or aspirin modestly lowered the risk of non-advanced prostate cancer.

The study is published in the January 2015 issue of the journal Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers and Prevention.