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Reviews discoveries in the genetics of prostate cancer and in the acquired molecular defects which accumulate in prostatic-carcinoma cells. Observation that prostate cancer is a leading cause of illness and death among men in the U.S. and Europe; Recognition of dietary factors, life style-related factors, and androgens as contributors to the risk of prostate cancer; Screening for prostate-specific antigens and digital rectal examination, as well as early treatment of localized prostate cancer, which have caused the age-adjusted rates of death due to prostate cancer to decrease; Molecular studies which have provided clues to how prostate cancers arise and progress; Identification and characterization of genes associated with inherited susceptibility to prostate cancer and of genes in prostate-cancer cells which tend to have somatic alterations and hint that infection or inflammation of the prostate contributes to the development of prostate cancer.