Department of Epidemiology, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, the James Buchanan Brady Urological Institute, and the Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center, Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions, Baltimore, Maryland 21205, USA.

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Several prospective studies suggest that use of cholesterol-lowering statin drugs is inversely associated with advanced stage and possibly high-grade prostate cancer. One study reported that men with low cholesterol had a lower risk of high-grade prostate cancer. Given these findings, we investigated the association between low serum cholesterol and prostate cancer risk in the Prostate Cancer Prevention Trial.

We conducted a cohort study of 5,586 men ages >or=55 years who were randomized to the placebo arm of the Prostate Cancer Prevention Trial between 1993 and 1996. Serum cholesterol was measured enzymatically at entry. By the end of follow-up, 1,251 prostate cancer cases were confirmed. We used logistic regression to calculate the multivariable odds ratio (OR) of total, and Gleason 2 to 6 (n = 993), 7 (n = 199), and 8 to 10 (n = 59) prostate cancer comparing low serum (normal, < 200 mg/dL) to high-serum (borderline and elevated cholesterol, >or=200 mg/dL) cholesterol.

Men with low cholesterol had a lower risk of Gleason 8 to 10 prostate cancer [OR, 0.41; 95% confidence interval (CI), 0.22-0.77] than men with high cholesterol. No association was present for prostate cancer overall (OR, 0.97; 95% CI, 0.85-1.11), Gleason 2 to 6 disease (OR, 1.03; 95% CI, 0.89-1.18), or Gleason 7 disease (OR, 0.93; 95% CI, 0.69-1.24).

These prospective results support that men with low cholesterol have a reduced risk of high-grade prostate cancer. These and other contemporary data that suggest that cholesterol metabolism should be investigated further in the etiology of prostate cancer.

Written by:
Platz EA, Till C, Goodman PJ, Parnes HL, Figg WD, Albanes D, Neuhouser ML, Klein EA, Thompson IM Jr, Kristal AR.   Are you the author?

Reference:
Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev. 2009 Nov;18(11):2807-13.
doi:10.1158/1055-9965.EPI-09-0472

PubMed Abstract
PMID:19887582

UroToday.com Prostate Cancer Section

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