Molecular changes associated with prostate cancer development

The epidemiologic characteristics of prostate cancer (PCa) have been recogn ized for several decades. It is of great importance to understand the facto rs responsible for prostate carcinogenesis, why some carcinomas remain "cli nically silent" during life, whereas other tumors progress to present clini cally and may lead to PCa-related death. A better understanding of these me chanisms in molecular genetic terms should point to move rational approache s to disease prevention, intervention and treatment. The aim of this review is to provide a comprehensive overview of the current state of knowledge r egarding the molecular alterations of PCa.