Y chromosome haplogroup R1a is associated with prostate cancer risk among Macedonian males

Y chromosome haplogroup R1a is associated with prostate cancer risk among Macedonian males

D. Plaseska-Karanfilska et al.

Prostate cancer (PC) is one of the most common male-specific cancers. Its incidence varies considerably between populations. Recent surveys suggest that PC is influenced by both genetic and environmental factors, although the etiology of the disease remains unknown in the majority of cases. Certain Y chromosomal lineages have been suggested to predispose individuals to prostate cancer in Japanese population, but no association has been found among Korean and Swedish patients. The aim of this study was to investigate the association between Y chromosomal haplogroups and predisposition to prostate cancer in Macedonian men. We studied 84 PC patients and 126 males from the general population of Macedonian ethnic origin. A total of 28 markers have been studied by multiplex PCR and SNaPshot analysis. Nineteen different Y haplogroups were determined; the most frequent being I1b-P37b, E3b1-M78, R1a-SRY 1532, R1b-P25 and J2b1a-M241. The frequency of R1a was significantly higher in PC patients (20.2%) in comparison with the controls (9.5%) [p=0.027; OR=2.41 (1.09-5.36)]. When stratified according to age, even stronger association was observed between haplogroup R1a and prostate cancer in patients of >65 years of age [p=0.004; OR=3.24 (1.41-7.46)]. Our results suggest that Y chromosome haplogroup R1a is associated with an increased prostate cancer risk in Macedonian men.