ROCHESTER, MINN. -- Mayo Clinic researchers report that the presence of certain changes in chromosome 8 in men with advanced prostate cancer predict a more deadly tumor type.

Researchers studied tissue samples of 144 men who were operated on for advanced prostate cancer between 1966 and 1987. They compared this information with the patient�s cancer status, obtained from a long-term follow-up study. They found that men with a specific set of abnormalities (including extra copies of the c-myc gene) on chromosome 8 had a 30 percent survival rate after 10 years, compared to a 78 percent 10-year survival among men with normal chromosomes.

The lead author of the study, Robert Jenkins, Ph.D., says that the information could help identify patients who may require closer follow-up and perhaps more aggressive early treatment of their cancers. The report was published in a recent issue of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

Mike O�Hara
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