Risk variant for prostate cancer in African-American men

A genetic risk variant that is associated with prostate cancer in African-American men is reported online this week in Nature Genetics.There are nearly 900,000 new cases of prostate cancer diagnosed every year, with about 258,000 deaths caused by this cancer worldwide. It is well-known that the incidence of prostate cancer is higher in men of African ancestry compared to men of non-African ancestry. Christopher Haiman and colleagues report a new risk variant on chromosome 17q21 that is associated with prostate cancer in men of African descent. This risk variant is rare in non-African populations and appears to be specific to men of African descent.