HPC2/ELAC2 polymorphisms and prostate cancer risk: analysis by age of onset of disease

Abstract

The candidate prostate cancer susceptibility gene HPC2/ELAC2 has two common coding polymorphisms: (Ser?Leu 217) and (Ala?Thr 541). The Thr541 variant in the HPC2/ELAC2 gene has previously been reported to be at an increased frequency in prostate cancer cases. To evaluate this hypothesis we genotyped 432 prostate cancer patients (including 262 patients diagnosed 455 years) and 469 UK, population based control individuals with no family history of cancer. We found no significant difference in the frequencies of Thr541-containing genotypes between cases and controls (OR=1.41, 95% CI 0.79 -2.50). The association remained non-significant when the analysis was restricted to cases divided by age of onset into those diagnosed 455 years (OR=1.50, 95% CI 0.79 -2.85) or to patients diagnosed 455 years (OR=1.27, 95% CI 0.59 -2.74). We conclude that any association between the Thr541 variant and prostate cancer is likely to be weak.

Should Educators be ‘Wrapping School Playgrounds in Cotton Wool’ to Encourage Physical Activity? Exploring Primary and Secondary Students’ Voices from the School Playground

“…At the policy/organisational level of influence on students' physical activity during school breaks have been largely unexplored (Haug, Torsheim, & Samdal, 2009). Research suggests there should school policies implemented to increase opportunities for students to be physically active (Meitz et al, 2002). In the present study, designated play areas, extra supervision, playground rules and equipment maintenance were the key policy/organisational factors perceived by the students to influence their safe participation in physical activity within school playgrounds.…”

Association of Susceptibility Alleles in ELAC2/HPC2, RNASEL/HPC1, and MSR1 with Prostate Cancer Severity in European American and African American Men

“…Analyses were undertaken by generating fixed effects pooled estimates of ORs and 95% confidence intervals (95% CI) using ORs and SEs from individual published studies for specific variants in RNASEL and MSR1. We did not conduct a meta-analysis for ELAC2 because several investigators have recently done meta-analyses for ELAC2 (36)(37)(38). We considered every report of variants in RNASEL or MSR1 for which prostate cancer associations had been reported at least twice in the literature for strata defined by race and family history.…”

Polymorphisms in the prostate-specific antigen gene promoter do not predict serum prostate-specific antigen levels in African-American men

“…In the PCPT, approximately 15% of men with normal digital rectal examinations and PSA values consistently under 4.0 ng/ml over a period of 7 years were determined to have prostate cancer on biopsies performed at the end of the study. 5 Clearly, more research needs to be done to improve the use of serum PSA as a screening test for prostate cancer in asymptomatic men.…”