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Cancer Control Research

Abstract

Prostate Cancer:Case/Control Comparison - Cancer of the prostate is the leading cancer in U.S. males and is increasing each year at alarming rates. Yet despite its prevalence, few risk factors have been firmly established. The identification of biomarkers for prostatic carcinoma has been targeted as a priority in our national cancer effort and is a critical element in the development of efficient screening and early detection programs. Recent reviews have identified anthropometry as an area which bears promise in uncovering such risk factors, and that differences in fat distribution, skeletal structure and musculature may be evident in men with prostate cancer versus those without this disease. Indeed, our pilot study in this area has resulted in provocative findings. A cooperative case-control study between the Departments of Cancer Control Research and Surgery/Division of Urology at the Duke University Comprehensive Cancer Center is proposed to further investigate differences in anthropometric measures in these populations. Men with new diagnosed staged A, B or C prostate cancer (n = 150) and those where such diagnosis is ruled-out (n = 150) will be recruited from the Duke Urology Clinics. Subjects will be limited to mentally competent, weight-stable ( less than 5 % weight change over the past year), black or white men between the ages of 50-70 years old whose physical condition does not interfere with/or impact on complete anthropometric assessment and who are not taking exogenous hormones or anti-hormonal agents. Subjects will be stratified with regard to age and race and the following measures will be taken: weight; standing and sitting height; biacromial, bideltoid and biiliac breadths; midarm, midarm muscle, waist, hip and thigh circumferences; and triceps, biceps, subscapular, suprailiac and thigh skinfold thicknesses, and weight history. Analyses of free serum testosterone and sex hormone binding globulin are planned, and associations between anthropometric measures (this includes raw data, anthropometric ratios and data generated by body mass and composition prediction equations) and hormonal levels will be tested. Subgroup analyses comparing blacks and whites will also be conducted. The pilot study conducted for this research suggests that cases and controls, may indeed, differ with regard to fat distribution and skeletal structure. We therefore propose a larger study which will permit adequate power to test the hypotheses that anthropometric measures of fat distribution, skeletal structure and body musculature are significantly different between men with prostate cancer versus those without this disease, and that associations between these anthropometric measures and serum levels of sex hormone binding globulin and free testosterone exist. This case/control investigation of anthropometric measures and their association with hormonal levels and the incidence of prostate cancer could potentially uncover novel risk factors for prostatic cancer pathogenesis, as well as to uncover additional areas for further exploration.