What Is a Prostate Cancer Genetic Mutation?
What Is a Prostate Cancer Genetic Mutation? from Patient Empowerment Network on Vimeo.
What is a prostate cancer genetic mutation? Dr. Himisha Beltran defines genetic mutations, where they may occur, and how identification of mutations can assist in prostate cancer detection and care.
Dr. Himisha Beltran is Director of Translational Research in the Department of Medical Oncology at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. Learn more about Dr. Beltran, here.
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Transcript:
Dr. Beltran:
So, genetic mutation refers to changes in the DNA sequence of an individual or their cancer. And so, we know that normal individuals have variations in their inherited or normal DNA that drive diversity. And some of these changes actually in your inherited DNA can predispose to future development of cancer. So, those are important to identify as those are mutations that may help us guide early detection and screening strategies for people at high risk for cancer.
There are also genetic mutations in cancers themselves. And each cancer type is characterized by different patterns of mutations that can sometimes help us in the clinic figure out, where did a cancer come from? Did it come from the prostate, or did it come from somewhere else? Some of these mutations in the cancer can also be targeted with drugs. And there are drug approaches that are developed that specifically target an individual’s mutation in their cancer. And every individual, even within prostate cancer, may be different. And so, this is something that we’re commonly testing for in the cancer itself by doing DNA sequencing to look for letter changes in the DNA.
