Why do African men get prostate cancer more often?
Genetic Hitchhiking and Population Bottlenecks Contribute to Prostate Cancer Disparities in Men of African Descent.
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a healthcare professional. Terms
Surprising Findings
Prostate cancer risk alleles are mostly ancestral (ancient) in African populations and derived (newer) in non-Africans.
People assume newer mutations cause disease—but here, the opposite is true. The 'dangerous' versions are the original human ones, and non-Africans evolved safer versions by losing the old ones.
Practical Takeaways
Men of African descent should consider earlier and more frequent prostate cancer screening (e.g., PSA tests starting at 40).
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a healthcare professional. Terms
Surprising Findings
Prostate cancer risk alleles are mostly ancestral (ancient) in African populations and derived (newer) in non-Africans.
People assume newer mutations cause disease—but here, the opposite is true. The 'dangerous' versions are the original human ones, and non-Africans evolved safer versions by losing the old ones.
Practical Takeaways
Men of African descent should consider earlier and more frequent prostate cancer screening (e.g., PSA tests starting at 40).
Publication
Journal
Cancer research
Year
2018
Authors
J. Lachance, A. Berens, Matthew E. B. Hansen, Andrew K. Teng, S. Tishkoff, T. Rebbeck
Related Content
Claims (6)
Ethnicity is a significant biological determinant of prostate cancer risk, with men of African descent exhibiting approximately double the incidence and earlier age of onset compared to men of European descent.
Just a few gene variants are responsible for most of the higher prostate cancer risk in men of African descent—removing these few variants makes the risk gap between populations disappear.
In Africa, many cancer-risk genes are old and have been around for a long time; outside Africa, many of those genes changed into a safer version, which is why non-African populations have lower risk.
When early humans left Africa, they took only a small group of genes with them—this accidentally left behind many prostate cancer risk genes, making non-African populations less genetically prone to the disease.
Men whose ancestors came from West Africa are more likely to have genetic traits that raise their chance of getting prostate cancer than men from East Asia, because of ancient human migrations and natural selection.