LSUHSC researcher finds first inherited prostate cancer genetic mutation in African-American men

Friday, March 19, 2010 - 09:43 in Health & Medicine

Shahriar Koochekpour, MD, PhD, Assistant Professor of Microbiology and Immunology, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, and Genetics at LSU Health Sciences Centre New Orleans, led research that has discovered, for the first time, a genetic mutation in African-American men with a family history of prostate cancer who are at increased risk for the disease. Dr Koochekpour, who is also a member of the LSUHSC Stanley S. Scott Cancer Centre, identified an inheritable genetic defect in the receptor for the male hormone, androgen (testosterone), that may contribute to the development of prostate cancer and its progression. Scientific reports linking inheritable androgen receptor mutations to prostate cancer in Caucasians are rare, and this is the first one that focuses on the African-American population. The study is available in the advance online publication of the Nature Publishing Group's Asian Journal of Andrology...

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