"We believe that this is a test with significant clinical utility for improving and personalizing the screening and treatment of one of the most common cancers," Decode's Chief Executive Kari Stefansson said in a statement.
A host of companies now offer such genetic tests for common conditions like cancer, diabetes and heart disease but some scientists say they do little good and can saddle people with unnecessary anxiety or provide false reassurance.
Steven Chanock of the National Institutes of Health in the United States and colleagues detected three genetic changes in their study of more than 1,100 men with prostate cancer and those without the disease. Like the other studies, his team confirmed the findings in an independent population.
