[Dangerous liaisons in prostate cancer. Clinical and biological implications of recurrent gene fusions]

Abstract

Prostate cancer is a common and clinically heterogeneous disease. Understanding the biology of prostate cancer is necessary to best determinate the risk of disease progression and develop novel therapeutic approaches to prevent or slow down disease progression. The recent discovery and subsequent characterization of recurrent gene rearrangements of ETS genes - most frequently ERG - in the majority of prostate cancers is a milestone in translational prostate cancer research. Although multiple molecular alterations have been detected in prostate cancer, a detailed understanding of gene fusion in prostate cancer should help explain the clinical and biologic diversity in addition to providing a rationale for a molecular sub-classification of the disease. This review describes the path from the identification of common ETS gene rearrangements in prostate cancer to possible applications in the treatment of patients, on to the potential scientific implications arising from their discovery.