Black men face a stark reality when it comes to prostate cancer: they are more likely to develop aggressive forms of the disease and die from it than other populations. Now, the largest study of its kind has identified five genes that significantly increase the risk of aggressive and metastatic prostate cancer specifically in men of African descent.
Researchers examined 37 prostate cancer predisposition genes in over 12,000 men with African ancestry from seven countries across North America and Africa. They discovered that disease-causing variants in ATM, BRCA2, CHEK2, HOXB13, and PALB2 genes made carriers up to six times more likely to develop prostate cancer. These variants appeared in four percent of cases with aggressive forms of the disease.
The findings reveal a troubling range of risk. A man’s lifetime chance of developing prostate cancer varied dramatically from 3.0% to 74% depending on genetic variants and family history. For aggressive prostate cancer, risk ranged from 0.6% to 41%, and for metastatic disease, from 0.2% to 37%.
Lead researcher Fei Chen from the University of Southern California emphasized the study’s purpose: “Our goal is to better understand risk and help reduce the disparity in prostate cancer outcomes.” The research points toward personalized screening strategies that could identify high-risk individuals who would benefit from earlier and more frequent testing, potentially catching the disease in its early stages when treatment is most effective.
See: “Genetic Variants Implicated in Prostate Cancer Among Men with African Ancestry” (November 7, 2025)Â
