A recent study reported that a large proportion of men with aggressive prostate cancer have inherited cancer gene mutations. Specifically, among 400 patients with castration-resistant prostate cancer, 16.2% had a germline mutation in a DNA damage repair gene, including 3% with a BRCA2 mutation. Among BRCA2 carriers, survival was 17.4 months, which was much lower than the 33.2 months observed among non-carriers. Furthermore, the subset of BRCA2 carriers who received first-line treatment with abiraterone or enzalutamide had better outcomes than those who received taxanes. Consequently, these findings suggest that determination of BRCA2 status may help to guide initial treatment of metastatic prostate cancer among BRCA2 carriers, although additional studies are needed to confirm these results.
Castro E, et al. J Clin Oncol. 2019 Jan 9. PMID: 30625039.