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Prostate Cancer in your Genes

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 Interactive Figure Your DNA May Already Know How Aggressive Your Prostate Cancer Will Be Informed Prostate Cancer Support Group  |  Patient Education Series A landmark VA-led study introduces a new genetic score that predicts cancer aggressiveness — and could soon change how active surveillance is managed. Prepared for the IPCSG Newsletter  |  May 2026  |  Source study: medRxiv preprint, doi: 10.64898/2026.05.07.26352488  |  Note: preprint, not yet peer-reviewed. Bottom Line Up Front (BLUF) A new genetic score called PRSagg , developed from DNA data on nearly 40,000 veterans, can predict how aggressive a man's prostate cancer is likely to be — independent of PSA, age, or biopsy grade. In the largest validation study of its kind, men with the highest PRSagg had more than twice the risk of their cancer spreading (metastasis) compared to men with the lowest score. Crucially, this...
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Insurance Considerations for Men Diagnosed with Prostate Cancer

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A Rose by Any Other Name An IPCSG Newsletter Feature — companion to "What Men Need to Know Before Saying 'Yes' to a Genetic Test" Companion piece: This article picks up where the previous IPCSG feature on germline genetic testing left off. That article addressed the question of insurance timing for untested family members contemplating a genetic test before any diagnosis. This one addresses the question many already-diagnosed members ask: now that I have the diagnosis on my chart, what does that actually mean for any new insurance I might want to buy? "What's in a name? That which we call a rose By any other name would smell as sweet." — Romeo and Juliet, Act II, Scene II Juliet was wrong, at least about prostate cancer. The name very much matters. A pathologist's report that uses the word "cancer" to describe a microscopic finding of pure-pattern-3 prostate adenocarcinoma — a condition that may never affect the man'...
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What Men Need to Know Before Saying "Yes" to a Genetic Test:

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What tools do men need to make an informed decision about germline genetic testing for prostate cancer? A qualitative and survey study | medRxiv What Men Need to Know Before Saying "Yes" to a Genetic Test: A New Study Asks the Patients Themselves An IPCSG Newsletter Feature — based on the Raspin et al. (2026) Tasmanian co-design study and a broad survey of current research, guidelines, and law. BLUF — Bottom Line Up Front Genetic testing now matters at every stage. Both the NCCN (Version 1.2025) and ASCO (2025) guidelines now recommend germline (inherited) genetic testing for every man with metastatic prostate cancer and most men with high-risk localized disease. About 1 in 10 men with metastatic prostate cancer carries an inherited mutation that changes treatment options. The most important genes are BRCA2, BRCA1, ATM, CHEK2, PALB2, HOXB13, and the Lynch-syndrome (MMR) genes. A BRCA2 mutation, in particular, signals more aggressive disease and opens the...
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