Recurrent fusion genes and prostate cancer

The discovery of recurrent gene fusions in a majority of prostate cancers has important clinical and biological implications in the study of common epithelial tumours.

Gene fusion and chromosomal rearrangements were previously thought to be primarily the oncogenic mechanism of hematological malignancies and sarcomas.  The resulting gene fusions can serve as specific therapeutic targets, as exemplified by the development of imatinib (Gleevec), which specifically inhibits the BCR-ABL gene fusion product that defines chronic myeloid leukemia.

Prostate cancer cells: from www.bu.edu        

The prostate cancer gene fusions that have been identified so far are characterized by 5' genomic regulatory elements, most commonly controlled by androgen, fused to members of the Ets family of transcription factors, leading to the overexpression of oncogenic transcription factors.

The specificity of ETS gene fusions in prostate cancer suggest that they may potentially have causal roles in prostate cancer and suggest utility in prostate cancer detection, stratification and treatment. 

Time will tell.

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