Millions suffer silent strokes. HPV good follow-up for Pap test. Prostate cancer gene discovered. Two mutations of the HPC2 or ELAC2 gene confer the risk. Genes that predispose to prostate cancer are difficult to find because the disease is commonly diagnosed so late in life.
Technology measures cancer gene expression.
It is known that many cases of hereditary breast cancer are due to mutations in either the BRCA1 or the BRCA2 gene. Using gene-expression profiling, researchers found they could quickly distinguish among BRCA1, BRCA2, and sporadic tumors. This information should aid investigators in developing drugs that will target more precisely specific types of cancer, according to an editorial in the same issue of the journal. Homocysteine levels linked to strokes. A study conducted in the Netherlands discovered that symptom-free silent strokes are twice as common among patients with high homocysteine levels.