BEIJING (Xinhuanet) -- Scientists have identified a common genetic marker that predisposes men to prostate cancer, and it may help explain why black men are unusually prone to the disease, according to a study in Nature Genetics Sunday.

Research in Iceland has established that a characteristic genetic fingerprint is strongly linked to prostate tumors, accounting for up to 8 percent of these cancers in European men and twice this among those of African descent.

The study was published online by Nature Genetics and will appear in the journal's June issue. The work is reported by Kari Stefansson and colleagues at deCode genetics in Reykjavik, Iceland, and scientists in the U.S. and Sweden.

The researchers did not identify specific genes, but narrows the hunt to part of the genome on Chromosome 8.

The results, which emerged from a study of 3,430 prostate cancer patients and 2,675 healthy controls, are important because the genetic variant is very common: it is carried by about 19 percent of European men who develop the disease, and by 41 percent of black patients of African descent.

Stefansson said in a statement that deCode plans to use the discovery to develop a genetic test that might help doctors decide how closely to follow men at high risk and how to treat prostate cancer cases.

In general, men run a 1-in-6 chance of developing prostate cancer at some point in their lives. The risk is greater for those who are older, black or have a brother or father who's had the disease. More than 230,000 new cases are expected this year in the U.S., with about 27,000 deaths.