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Discordant Sibling Pair Project

As we reported in our Spring 2004 newsletter. The PCGP has been actively recruiting sibling pairs (one brother affected with prostate cancer and the other unaffected) for the past several years. Many of our families now have an unaffected brother who has sent in a blood sample and completed our telephone survey. The addition of these "unaffected" siblings has been very helpful to our research which has two goals: (1) to characterize the prostate cancer screening practices and use of vitamin and herbal supplements among unaffected brothers and (2) to assess the role of candidate genes for prostate cancer using family-based association studies. Overall, we hope to improve our understanding of the prevention and early detection strategies employed by men at increased risk for developing prostate cancer. This information will eventually be useful for developing effective prevention programs for high-risk men.

Although brothers who have not been diagnosed with prostate cancer may not see a direct benefit to participation, their contribution is very significant in advancing our research effort. Sibling-pair analysis has become an important strategy used in gene mapping which will eventually lead to the discovery of genes associated with hereditary prostate cancer. Therefore, we wish to thank unaffected male relatives who have joined the project and want them to know that we very much appreciate their participation.

Our "Discordant Sibling Pair" project is funded through our Urology Center SPORE (Specialized Programs of Research Excellence) grant from the National Cancer Institute. Monthly updates on our progress are reported to the SPORE coordinating team and data from this project have been reported in Cancer and Urology medical journals.

A vital part of this project is the ability to continually update the screening and medical history among all of our participants. Therefore, we may be asking some of you to sign an updated consent form so that we may obtain more up-to-date medical records. To help participants report health updates, we have added a new Health Updates feature to our website. Please see our separate article on Page 2 for details.

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Welcome is published by the Prostate Cancer Genetics Project

7310 CCGC, 1500 East Medical Center Drive
Ann Arbor, MI 48109-0946
Phone: 734-936-2031 or 800-723-9170
Fax: 734-647-4338

Articles by:
Caroline Mohai, Alicia M. Mastronardi, Bronwen A. Halstead-Nussloch, Kimberly A. Zuhlke, Jennifer Beebe-Dimmer, MPH, PhD, Kathleen A. Cooney, MD

Special thanks to: Lisa Robbins

Editor: Caroline E. Mohai

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University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center
1500 East Medical Center Drive
Ann Arbor, MI 48109

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