Short answers, pulled from the story.
Prostate cancer is the uncontrolled growth of cells in the prostate gland, located below the bladder in the male reproductive system. Around 1.2 million new cases are diagnosed each year worldwide, making it the second-most frequently diagnosed cancer in men. One in eight men is diagnosed with prostate cancer in their lifetime, and one in forty dies of the disease.
The PSA test measures blood levels of prostate-specific antigen, a protein elevated in men with enlarged or cancerous prostates. The typical man has around 1 nanogram of PSA per milliliter of blood. Men with levels above 4 ng/mL are at increased risk and are often referred for biopsy; levels above 10 ng/mL indicate that more than half of men in that group will have prostate cancer.
The Gleason score measures how different prostate tumor tissue looks from healthy prostate tissue under a microscope. A pathologist assigns grades of 3 to 5 to different biopsy regions and adds the two scores covering the largest areas, producing a total Gleason score from 6 to 10. A score of 6 (grade group 1) carries the best prognosis, while a score of 9 or 10 (grade group 5) indicates the most severely cancerous tissue.
Around 80% of prostate cancer diagnoses involve cancer still confined to the prostate, and up to 99% of those men survive more than 10 years from diagnosis. Men whose cancer has spread to nearby parts of the body have five-year survival rates of 60 to 80%. Those with metastases in distant body sites face five-year survival rates of 30 to 40%.
Charles Huggins and Clarence V. Hodges published studies in 1941 showing that surgical castration or oral estrogen reduced androgen levels and improved prostate cancer symptoms. Huggins was awarded the 1966 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for this discovery. Andrzej W. Schally later developed GnRH agonists as a safer hormonal alternative and received the 1977 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for that work.
Variants in BRCA2 confer up to an eight-fold increased risk, and variants in HOXB13 confer a three-fold increased risk. Men with one affected first-degree relative have more than twice the risk of developing prostate cancer, and those with two affected first-degree relatives face a five-fold greater risk. Together, known gene variants are estimated to account for around 25% of all prostate cancer cases, including 40% of early-onset cases.