Genetic polymorphisms and prostate cancer risk

The identification of common genetic polymorphisms that influence susceptibility to PC would allow an early risk assessment with earlier and therefore potentially more effective intervention by chemopreventive means. In this review we focus on published case-control studies and meta-analyses of the following polymorphic genes that may play a role in etiology of the androgen receptor (AR), the prostate-specific antigen (PSA), 5alpha-reductase type II gene (SRD5A2), cytochrome P450c17alpha (CYP17), cytochrome P4503A4 (CYP3A4) and a putative hereditary PC susceptibility gene, ELAC2.