Evidence for an association between the SRD5A2 (type II steroid 5 alpha-reductase) locus and prostate cancer in Italian patients

We have investigated the contributions of three polymorphic markers in the SRD5A2 gene to prostate cancer in a group of Italian patients. We have geno typed cases and controls for a polymorphic (TA), dinucleotide repeat and tw o functional substitutions, A49T and V89L, substituting respectively alanin e with threonine at codon 49, and valine to leucine at codon 89, We found a substantially increased but not significant risk associated with the 49T m utation and a reduction of risk for the V89L substitution. In conclusion, w e report on preliminary evidence for both increased and decreased risk asso ciated with separate markers at this locus.