GENETIC DEFECT MAY BE CULPRIT THAT CAUSES PROSTATE CANCER

Researchers have found a genetic defect they think might trigger prostate cancer by robbing cells of an enzyme that fights the disease.

The genetic change, which apparently alters the body's natural cancer-fighting mechanisms, appeared in the bodies of all 91 prostate victims they studied and was nowhere to be found in the tissues of healthy men.In 88 of the 91 victims, researchers were unable to find the cancer-fighting enzyme glutathione S-transferase, part of a group of chemicals produced in the body that fight cancer.

"It provides a tremendous clue as to how the cancers arise," said Dr. William F. Nelson, assistant professor of oncology and urology at Johns Hopkins.

Prostate cancer, the most frequently diagnosed cancer in American men, strikes about 200,000 each year and kills about 38,000, but it can be conquered if detected early enough.

If this change in the DNA does prove to be the trigger, tests might be developed that could spot the defect and thus identify future prostate cancer patients before the disease progresses, researchers said.

"If continued research confirms this hypothesis, tests for the enzyme could serve as an early diagnostic marker for prostate cancer," Nelson said.