Saving black men.

I WOULD LIKE TO EXPRESS MY SINCEREST APPRECIAtion for Earl Graves' willingness to share his personal experiences with prostate cancer ["Prostate Cancer at Homecoming," Publisher's Page, May 2004]. As he so accurately described, family, friends, knowledge, and faith are all critical components to successfully navigate a difficult situation.

As I am sure you are now aware, men of African descent have the highest incidence of, and mortality rates due to, prostate cancer in the world. This is beginning to have a major impact on our community. The news of yet another African American prostate cancer case is becoming a much too frequent occurrence.

The information and resources you provided to your readers will be helpful and comforting to many. I would like to bring to your attention another bit of information that your readers may find encouraging in the fight against prostate cancer.

The benefits of the Human Genome Project for public health are turning out to be truly enormous. The information coming from this project allows scientists to better understand the genetic basis for disease. With this understanding, incredible diagnostic and therapeutic tools can be developed that were unfathomable just a few years ago. In the not-too-distant future, physicians will be armed with the most cutting-edge technology to fight winning battles against disease.

There is a study called the African American Hereditary Prostate Cancer Study. This is a study with a goal of identifying the genetic factors associated with prostate cancer in African American men. This is one of the most amazing things I have ever witnessed, both as an African American and a scientist. This is a project that is designed by African Americans, run by African Americans, for the benefit of not only African Americans but all prostate cancer sufferers. Since 1999, this group of highly talented physicians and scientists has recruited 108 families with at least four affected members in each family. The analyses of these samples are now ongoing, and the hope is that the data generated will provide great insight into the genetic basis of prostate cancer. These data should also shed some light with respect to why African American men are so disproportionately affected by it.

This project has been led by Drs. Isaac Powell from Wayne State University and John Carpten from the Translational Genomics Research Institute. In addition, Dr. Carpten is also involved in a similar study focusing on men of African descent in Barbados. As I mentioned, men of African descent have the highest incidence in the world, which suggests some interesting speculation about our shared ancestry.

The point of all this is that there are a number of talented, hardworking African Americans out there dedicated to fighting this disease, which is ravaging our community.

Ron G. King, Ph.D.

Director, Technology Transfer

Transformational Genomics Research Institute

Phoenix

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