Cancer Research UK : Seven new prostate cancer gene regions discovered

Seven new prostate cancer gene regions discovered

Press briefing, 8th February 2008, Holborn In February 2008 Cancer Research UK held a media briefing to announce that the charity's researchers, Dr Ros Eeles and Professor Doug Easton, had found seven new sites in the human genome that are linked to men’s risk of developing prostate cancer.

Of special interest was a gene called MSMB ,which could possibly be used in screening for prostate cancer and disease monitoring. Another of the genetic sites harbours a gene called LMTK2 which might be a target for new treatments.

Below are a range of audio interviews with the researchers, key charity spokespeople and a patient who took part in the trial.

All of this content is downloadable and free to use by media wishing to cover this research.

Audio

All audio files are 128kb/s mp3s

Dr Ros Eeles

Lead researcher, Dr Ros Eeles, is a clinical cancer geneticist at the Institute of Cancer Research in Sutton

Dr Eeles describes the background to this discovery (1min30s)
Dr Eeles explains how the team carried out their research (1min32s)
Dr Eeles talks about three of the key gene regions they have discovered (1min33s)
Dr Eeles describes the next steps for this research (1min23)
Dr Eeles explains how common these new gene faults are, how many cases of prostate cancer they may contribute to, and how they may change the face of medicine in the five years (0min52s)

Professor Doug Easton

Professor Doug Easton, director of the Genetic Epidemiology Group at Cancer Research UK's Cambridge Research Institute, explains why this new technology has enabled us to find new cancer genes (0min41s)

Martin Ledwick

Martin Ledwick, Head of Patient Information at Cancer Research UK, explains what this discovery means for men with prostate cancer or who are worried about the disease (0min33s)

Fiona Hemsley

Fiona Hemsley, Head of Institutes Funding and Scientific Events at Cancer Research UK, reveals why the charity made the decision to invest in genome-scanning technology (0min55s)

Laurie Whelan

Mr Laurie Whelan is a prostate cancer survivor who took part in the study.

Mr Whelan describes why he decided to get involved (0min24s)

Mr Whelan describes his family history of prostate cancer, and how he found out that he was at increased risk of the disease (0min59)

Mr Whelan highlights the importance of cancer research for improving the situation for men with prostate cancer in the future (0min36s)