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CNN Live Sunday

Scientists Discover Gene Responsible for Prostate Cancer

Aired January 20, 2002 - 18:22   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: Scientists have identified a faulty gene, one that could make some people more prone to developing prostate cancer. CNN's medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen has been working this story on this Sunday, and trying to tell us what it could mean for men, actually, in this case.

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Right. For men even if they don't carry this gene, actually, this discovery is important. And the reason why is that now that scientists have found that gene, they can try to take a look at it and see what does this gene cause normal cells to do? Why does this gene make normal cells become cancerous? They can look at that whole process, they can see where it goes wrong, and then try to develop drugs that actually target the process at the exact point where something goes wrong.

And also, if a man does carry this gene -- and a minority of men would carry this gene, only about 9 percent of all prostate cancers are actually inherited -- but if a man knew that he had a family history of prostate cancer, later on, many years from now, there might be a test that would be available where he could go to his doctor, find out if he had the gene, and then if he had the gene, he would know to be vigilant about early detection and treatment.

LIN: And this is one of many stories that you've done. What sorts of genes could people now be tested for?

COHEN: Well, it's amazing, the number of things that you could be tested for genetically. As a matter of fact, we went on the Internet and we went to Emery University's genetic testing site to take a look at what they offered. And it was really incredible, the list of what they have; some things that you might have heard of -- breast cancer, cystic fibrosis, sickle cell anemia -- things that we often think -- there it is -- things that we often think of as being caused by genetics. And some things that you may not have heard of -- Fragile X, which is the disease that causes mental retardation, Angelman syndrome, which is a neurological disease.

There's this whole list that people can actually check off and say what they want to be tested for. So this is just one of many, many diseases that has a genetic component to it.

LIN: All right, very quickly, Elizabeth, because we're running out of time, but what are the consequences of having these tests done?

COHEN: Well, there are all sorts of consequences, and people need to really think it through.

First of all, some people are scared that if they use their real name on the test, it will be in their medical record and then insurance company will say, well, we don't want to insure you if you have got a 70 percent chance of developing, let's say, breast cancer later on in life. So a lot of people do it under a Jane Doe or a John Doe kind of name.

There are other kinds of ramifications, which is if this is a disease where they can't do anything for you if you carry the gene, you might want to say, why would I want to be tested if they can't do anything for me. Do I want to walk around knowing that I have a high likelihood of getting prostate cancer or whatever else the gene would be for?

LIN: Yeah, interesting. All right. We have to deal with all these developments.

COHEN: Exactly. All these decisions.

LIN: Thanks so much, Elizabeth.

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