What causes prostate cancer?

Thanks!

Heredity. My dad was diagnosed at age 56 in 1970. Back then there was no PSA testing and he never had any kind of regular physical exam. His was found because he could not urinate - oops, stage 3 or 4 probably. He died a few years later of a heart attack.

I started PSA testing at age 45 - it was 4. By 48, my psa was 10. In the interview portion, all the eyebrows went up when I revealed my dad was a victim in his mid 50's.

I know of nothing I should have done differently as I have had a very healthy and clean life style. Just glad PSA testing has been developed, caught my situation before there were major problems. It has been 3.5 years since surgery - no PSA return.

I agree with Ron to some extent, heredity. But then there is the who knows what causes it? My fil was diagnosed at age 65yrs, no family history whatsoever of any prostate cancer. He had problems with benign prostatic hypertrophy since age 53yrs old, yearly psa checks, and multiple negative biopsies were done, in the year 2005 his psa jumped to 100 and he was then diagnosed with prostate cancer, aggressive gleason 9, 12/12 biopsies + for prostate cancer.
It may be lifestyle choices also? My fil smoked, drank, ate lots of red meat, no exercise, high stress lifestyle. Cancer of any type is one of those weird diseases that can happen to people with and without known family histories of the same cancer.

A.

Significant PC is far less common in Japan and other asian countries compared to USA, so living in USA could cause it.