Proteins linked to the immune system, cell adhesion, blood vessel formation, and known prostate cancer genes, were associated with the future risk of developing prostate cancer, in a new study led by researchers at Oxford University.

The study, published in European Urology and presented at the American Society of Human Genetics (ASHG) Annual Meeting, is the largest population-based investigation of its kind to date.

The findings reveal biological differences between men who later developed prostate cancer and those who did not, which may help guide future studies to identify men at greater risk of the disease.

The researchers analysed blood samples from 982 men who subsequently developed prostate cancer and a randomly selected sample of 1,573 men. They measured more than 6,000 proteins in the blood and looked for differences linked to the later development of prostate cancer, particularly aggressive disease. Participants were followed for around 16 years.

Twelve proteins were linked to prostate cancer diagnosed more than 15 years after the blood sample was collected. Other findings pointed to processes involved in how cancer cells interact with surrounding tissue and how new blood vessels form.

Dr Zhe Huang, lead author of the study said ‘Prostate cancer is not one disease. Many prostate cancers grow slowly and may never cause harm, while others are aggressive and can be life-threatening.’ 

“By measuring thousands of proteins in blood collected years before diagnosis, we can begin to investigate how men who later develop aggressive prostate cancer may differ from men who do not. Ultimately, we hope this will help us understand the biology of aggressive prostate cancer and identify markers that could improve how we assess risk in the future.”