Background: Evidence supports the possibility of a role of the Y chromosome in prostate cancer, but controversy exists.
Methods: A novel analysis of a computerized population-based resource linking genealogy and cancer data was used to test the hypothesis of a role of the Y chromosome in prostate cancer predisposition. Using a statewide cancer registry from 1966 linked to a computerized genealogy representing over 1.2 million descendants of the Utah pioneers, 1,000 independent sets of males, each set hypothesized to share the same Y chromosome as represented in genealogy data, were tested for a significant excess of prostate cancer.
Results: Multiple Y chromosomes representing thousands of potentially at-risk males were identified to have a significant excess risk for prostate cancer.
Conclusions: This powerful and efficient in silico test of an uncommon mode of inheritance has confirmed evidence for Y chromosome involvement in prostate cancer.
Keywords: UPDB; Y chromosome; prostate cancer.
© 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.