Polymorphisms in androgen signaling pathway predisposing to prostate cancer.

Prostate cancer is the most frequent male malignancy diagnosed in western countries and androgens are known to mediate key physiological processes in prostate tissue. Since endogenous androgens have long been considered to be risk factors for prostate cancer, genes involved in androgen biosynthesis and metabolism have been extensively studied. In this review, association of androgen pathway genes, their polymorphic sites and risk of prostate cancer in different ethnic backgrounds is addressed together with their use to predict susceptibility and clinical outcomes of prostate cancer patients. The effect of the polymorphisms seems vary in different patients, populations and ethnic backgrounds. To date it is evident that the association between androgen pathway gene polymorphisms and prostate cancer risk is complex and many of the results are characterized by irreproducibility, which can be attributed to a variety of biological, statistical and technical reasons. In the future, with increasing knowledge, developing technologies and new genomic biomarkers it likely becomes possible to better estimate the risk of prostate cancer, and distinguish indolent disease from aggressive based on molecular profiling, and the analysis of gene-gene and gene-environment interactions.