Where are the prostate cancer genes? A summary of eight genome wide searches

BACKGROUND. There is strong evidence for genetic susceptibility to prostate cancer, but most of the genes underlying this susceptibility remain to be identified. METHODS. We reviewed the results of eight genome-wide linkage searches based on 1,293 families with multiple cases of prostate cancer. RESULTS. Across these studies, 11 linkage peaks with LOD scores in excess of 2 were identified. However, no chromosomal region was reported as significant at this level by more than one study and only one corresponded to a peak previously suggested by another group. CONCLUSIONS. These results indicate that prostate cancer is genetically complex, and that combined analyses of large family sets will be required to evaluate reliably the linkage evidence.