Serum androgens and prostate cancer risk: results from the placebo arm of the Prostate Cancer Prevention Trial

BACKGROUND - Compelling and long-standing data suggest that androgens play an important role in the development of both normal prostate epithelium and prostate cancer. Although testosterone administration can induce prostate cancer (PCA) in laboratory animals, serum-based epidemiologic studies examining androgens in humans have not consistently supported a role for androgens in prostate carcinogenesis.

We examined whether pre-diagnostic serum androgens were associated with PCA risk in the placebo arm of the Prostate Cancer Prevention Trial.

METHODS - In this nested case-control study, cases (n = 1,032) were primarily local-stage, biopsy-detected cancers, and controls (n = 1,025) were biopsy-confirmed to be PCA-free. Pre-diagnostic serum androgens (total testosterone, 3α-androstanediol glucuronide, free testosterone), estrogen-to-testosterone ratio, and sex hormone-binding globulin (SHBG) concentrations were measured in pooled (baseline and year 3) blood samples.

RESULTS - We found no significant associations between serum androgens, estrogen-to-testosterone ratios, or SHBG and risk of total, low (Gleason <7) or high-grade (Gleason 7-10) PCA.

CONCLUSIONS - Much remains to be learned about the role of androgens in prostate carcinogenesis. Further research is needed to evaluate the role of androgens, timing of exposure, genetic modulators of androgen metabolism, or environmental exposures that may affect androgen influence on prostate carcinogenesis.

Cancer causes & control : CCC. 2015 Nov 20 [Epub ahead of print]

Jeannette M Schenk, Cathee Till, Ann W Hsing, Frank Z Stanczyk, Zhihong Gong, Marian L Neuhouser, Juergen K Reichardt, Ashraful M Hoque, William D Figg, Phyllis J Goodman, Catherine M Tangen, Ian M Thompson

Cancer Prevention Program, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle, WA, USA.  Cancer Prevention Program, SWOG, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle, WA, USA. Cancer Prevention Institute of California, Fremont, CA, USA. Department of Obstetrics/Gynecology, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA. Cancer Prevention and Control, Roswell Park Cancer Institute, Buffalo, NY, USA. Zhihong.  Cancer Prevention Program, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle, WA, USA. Division of Tropical Health and Medicine, James Cook University, Townsville, QLD, Australia. Clinical Cancer Prevention, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX, USA. Genitourinary Malignancies Branch, National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, MD, USA. Cancer Prevention Program, SWOG, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle, WA, USA. Cancer Prevention Program, SWOG, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle, WA, USA. Cancer Therapy and Research Center, University of Texas Health Sciences Center San Antonio, San Antonio, TX, USA.  

PubMed