In a report published in Nature Genetics, Cancer Research UK announced that its scientists have discovered seven new sites in the human genome that are linked to men's risk of developing prostate cancer.

The scientists said that one of the found genes, called MSMB, could be possibly used in screening for prostate cancer and disease monitoring, while another one, LMTK2, could be target for new treatments.

"These exciting results will help us to more accurately calculate the risk of developing prostate cancer and may lead to the development of better targeted screening and treatment," said Dr Ros Eeles, who led the study at The Institute of Cancer Research.

There are probably many different factors that influence the development of prostate cancer, but particular combinations of genes are thought to play a major part. These results represent the largest number of genetic risk factors found in one genome-wide cancer study to date.

The data collected by the team, which have studied the genetic make up of over 10,000 men in total, suggests these newly identified genetic alterations are present in over half of all prostate cancer cases. They each increase a person's risk of the disease by up to 60 per cent.

Meanwhile, deCODE genetics announced the launch of deCODE PrCa, a reference laboratory test for common, single-letter variations in the human genome (SNPs) that the company has associated with increased risk of prostate cancer.

deCODE believes the test, which detects total of six previously discovered SNPs that have been confirmed in many populations, will be useful for better predicting risk of prostate cancer, helping to optimize both screening and treatment.

The test detects as well two SNPs on chromosomes X and 2 that are reported by deCODE scientists in a paper published today in the online edition of Nature Genetics.

Nearly 220,000 men were diagnosed with the disease in 2007, which transforms it in the most common malignancy in the U.S. About 27,000 died from it, according to the American Cancer Society. Prostate cancer was the fifth most deadly tumor, after lung, breast, colon and pancreatic cancers.