Spectrum of mitochondrial genomic variation and associated clinical presentation of prostate cancer in South African men.

Background: Prostate cancer incidence and mortality rates are significantly increased in African-American men, but limited studies have been performed within Sub-Saharan African populations. As mitochondria control energy metabolism and apoptosis we speculate that somatic mutations within mitochondrial genomes are candidate drivers of aggressive prostate carcinogenesis.

Methods: We used matched blood and prostate tissue samples from 87 South African men (77 with African ancestry) to perform deep sequencing of complete mitochondrial genomes.