MADISON, Wis. -- Researchers at the University of Wisconsin may have found the answer to why aging men get prostate cancer, the most commonly found cancer in men.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, nearly 190,000 men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer and roughly 29,000 die each year from it. Nearly one in six men will be diagnosed with the disease, making it the most common cancer detected in American men.

UW School of Medicine and Public Health researchers pinpointed a gene behavior -- or, more precisely, misbehavior -- that could mark susceptibility to prostate cancer.

The findings were published in the Aug. 15 edition of Cancer Research.

Dr. David Jarrard, principal investigator and surgical oncologist at the UW Paul. P. Carbone Comprehensive Cancer Center, said the findings may give us a window into preventing prostate cancer in aging men, as well as a way to diagnose it in early stages.

"At this point, there has not been much insight into why men develop prostate cancer commonly with aging," said Jarrard. "Through this research and follow-up studies, we may be able to identify men at high risk of developing prostate cancer or to find prostate cancer early in its development."

Jarrard and his team of researchers found in mice an erosion of normal gene regulation, or imprinting, that encourages a cancer promoter linked to the development of prostate cancer. They then examined normal appearing prostate tissues in aging men and found that this same alteration occurred more commonly in men who developed associated cancer, according to a UW news release.

Jarrard said more research is needed to build on the findings.

"We are setting up a trial to look at this gene change as a marker for men who develop cancer in a broader group of patients both within and outside UW," Jarrard said.

Researchers are also trying to determine whether the aberrant gene behavior can be prevented or slowed.

Dr. Richard Weindruch, an investigator on the study and a School of Medicine and Public Health researcher, said, "We will investigate diets known to slow aspects of the aging process that may also have a beneficial response in preventing cancer."

He found that in earlier published research that dietary changes can affect aging.