Background

Whether milk and dairy intake after a prostate cancer diagnosis is associated with a poorer prognosis is unknown. We investigated post-diagnostic milk and dairy intake in relation to risk of lethal prostate cancer (metastases and prostate cancer death) among participants in the Health Professionals Follow-Up Study.

Methods

The cohort consisted of 3,918 men diagnosed with apparently localized prostate cancer between 1986 and 2006, and followed to 2008. Data on milk and dairy intake were available from repeated questionnaires. We used Cox proportional hazards models to calculate hazard ratios (HR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) of the association between post-diagnostic milk and dairy intake and prostate cancer outcomes.

Results

We ascertained 229 prostate cancer deaths and an additional 69 metastases during follow-up. In multivariate analysis, total milk and dairy intakes after diagnosis were not associated with a greater risk of lethal prostate cancer. Men with the highest versus lowest intake of whole milk were at an increased risk of progression (HR 2.15; 95% CI: 1.28-3.60; P trend<0.01). Men in the highest versus lowest quintile of low-fat dairy intake were at a decreased risk of progression (HR 0.62; 95% CI: 0.40-0.95; P trend=0.07).

Conclusions

With the exception of whole milk, our results suggest that milk and dairy intake after a prostate cancer diagnosis is not associated with an increased risk of lethal prostate cancer.

Impact

This is the first larger prospective study investigating the relation between post-diagnostic milk and dairy intake and risk of lethal prostate cancer.

Fusion of the androgen receptor-regulated (AR-regulated) TMPRSS2 gene with ERG in prostate cancer (PCa) causes androgen-stimulated overexpression of ERG, an ETS transcription factor, but critical downstream effectors of ERG-mediating PCa development remain to be established. Expression of the SOX9 transcription factor correlated with TMPRSS2:ERG fusion in 3 independent PCa cohorts, and ERG-dependent expression of SOX9 was confirmed by RNAi in the fusion-positive VCaP cell line. SOX9 has been shown to mediate ductal morphogenesis in fetal prostate and maintain stem/progenitor cell pools in multiple adult tissues, and has also been linked to PCa and other cancers. SOX9 overexpression resulted in neoplasia in murine prostate and stimulated tumor invasion, similarly to ERG. Moreover, SOX9 depletion in VCaP cells markedly impaired invasion and growth in vitro and in vivo, establishing SOX9 as a critical downstream effector of ERG. Finally, we found that ERG regulated SOX9 indirectly by opening a cryptic AR-regulated enhancer in the SOX9 gene. Together, these results demonstrate that ERG redirects AR to a set of genes including SOX9 that are not normally androgen stimulated, and identify SOX9 as a critical downstream effector of ERG in TMPRSS2:ERG fusion–positive PCa.

Objective

To determine whether consumption of whole-grain; rye bread, oatmeal, and whole-wheat bread, during different periods of life, is associated with risk of prostate cancer (PCa).

Methods

In 2002 to 2006, 2,268 men, aged 67-96 years, reported their dietary habits in the AGES-Reykjavik cohort study. Dietary habits were assessed for early-, mid- , and current life using a validated food frequency questionnaire (FFQ). Through linkage to cancer- and mortality registers, we retrieved information on PCa diagnosis and mortality through 2009. We used regression models to estimate odds ratios (ORs) and hazard ratios (HRs) for PCa according to whole grain consumption, adjusted for possible confounding factors including fish-, fish liver oil-, meat-, and milk intake.

Results

Of the 2,268 men, 347 had or were diagnosed with PCa during follow-up, 63 with advanced disease (stage 3+ or died of PCa). Daily rye bread consumption in adolescence (vs. less than daily) was associated with a decreased risk of PCa diagnosis (OR = 0.76, 95% Confidence interval (CI): 0.59-0.98), and of advanced PCa (OR = 0.47, 95% CI: 0.27-0.84). High intake of oatmeal in adolescence (≥5 vs. ≤4 times/ week) was not significantly associated with risk of PCa diagnosis (OR = 0.99, 95% CI: 0.77-1.27) nor advanced PCa (OR = 0.67, 95% CI: 0.37-1.20). Mid-, and late life consumption of rye bread, oatmeal, or whole-wheat bread was not associated with PCa risk.

Conclusion

Our results suggest that rye bread consumption in adolescence may be associated with reduced risk of PCa, particularly advanced disease.

Background

Common genetic variants in the Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4), which is involved in inflammation and immune response pathways, may be important for prostate cancer.

Methods

In a large nested case-control study of prostate cancer in the Physicians’ Health Study (1982–2004), 10 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) were selected and genotyped to capture common variation within the TLR4 gene as well as 5 kilobases up and downstream. Unconditional logistic regression was used to assess associations of these SNPs with total prostate cancer incidence, and with prostate cancers defined as advanced stage/lethal (T3/T4, M1/N1(T1-T4), lethal) or high Gleason grade (7 (4+3) or greater). Cox-proportional hazards regression was used to assess progression to metastases and death among prostate cancer cases.

Results

The study included 1267 controls and 1286 incident prostate cancer cases, including 248 advanced stage/lethal and 306 high grade cases. During a median follow-up of 10.6 years, 183 men died of prostate cancer or developed distant metastases. No statistically significant associations between the TLR4 SNPs were found for total prostate cancer incidence, including SNPs for which an association was reported in other published studies. Additionally, there were no significant associations with TLR4 SNPS and the incidence of advanced stage/lethal, or high grade cancers; nor was there evidence among prostate cancer cases for associations of TLR4 SNPs with progression to prostate cancer specific mortality or bony metastases.

Conclusions

Results from this prospective nested case-control study suggest that genetic variation across TLR4 alone is not strongly associated with prostate cancer risk or mortality.

Background

α-Methylacyl-CoA racemase (AMACR) is an enzyme that serves as a diagnostic biomarker of prostate cancer in clinical practice. Recent studies suggest that low AMACR expression is associated with biochemical recurrence and the development of fatal disease.

Methods

We conducted a prospective cohort study among 920 men aged 47–84 years, who were diagnosed with prostate cancer in the Physicians’ Health Study and the Health Professionals Follow-up Study cohorts, and whose resected tissue specimens were available for immunohistochemical analysis. We used Cox proportional hazards regression to evaluate the association of AMACR expression with lethal prostate cancer over a 20-year follow-up period.

Results

In total, 68 men died from prostate cancer, and an additional 18 developed bony metastases during follow-up. We found that lower AMACR intensity was associated with higher prostate-specific antigen levels (p=0.003) and more advanced clinical stage (p=0.06) at diagnosis, and a non-significant trend for higher risk of lethal outcomes. The hazard ratio comparing the lowest to the highest quartile of AMACR expression intensity was 1.53 ((95% CI: 0.86, 2.73), p-for-trend across quartiles=0.07); this trend was further attenuated after adjustment for age, Gleason score, stage and cohort with a hazard ratio of 1.24 (95% CI 0.69, 2.22), p-for-trend=0.23.

Conclusions

Low AMACR expression in primary tumor specimens was not independently associated with the development of metastatic and lethal prostate cancer after treatment over a 20-year follow-up period, after adjustment for important clinical covariates at diagnosis.

A common treatment of advanced prostate cancer involves the deprivation of androgens. Despite the initial response to hormonal therapy, eventually all the patients relapse. In the present study, we sought to determine whether dietary polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA) affects the development of castration-resistant prostate cancer. Cell culture, patient tissue microarray, allograft, xenograft, prostate-specific Pten knockout and omega-3 desaturase transgenic mouse models in conjunction with dietary manipulation, gene knockdown and knockout approaches were used to determine the effect of dietary PUFA on castration-resistant Pten-null prostate cancer. We found that deletion of Pten increased androgen receptor (AR) expression and Pten-null prostate cells were castration resistant. Omega-3 PUFA slowed down the growth of castration-resistant tumors as compared with omega-6 PUFA. Omega-3 PUFA decreased AR protein to a similar extent in tumor cell cytosolic and nuclear fractions but had no effect on AR messenger RNA level. Omega-3 PUFA treatment appeared to accelerate AR protein degradation, which could be blocked by proteasome inhibitor MG132. Knockdown of AR significantly slowed down prostate cancer cell proliferation in the absence of androgens. Our data suggest that omega-3 PUFA inhibits castration-resistant prostate cancer in part by accelerating proteasome-dependent degradation of the AR protein. Dietary omega-3 PUFA supplementation in conjunction with androgen ablation may significantly delay the development of castration-resistant prostate cancer in patients compared with androgen ablation alone.

The authors investigated whether early-life residency in certain areas of Iceland marked by distinct differences in milk intake was associated with risk of prostate cancer in a population-based cohort of 8,894 men born between 1907 and 1935. Through linkage to cancer and mortality registers, the men were followed for prostate cancer diagnosis and mortality from study entry (in waves from 1967 to 1987) through 2009. In 2002–2006, a subgroup of 2,268 participants reported their milk intake in early, mid-, and current life. During a mean follow-up period of 24.3 years, 1,123 men were diagnosed with prostate cancer, including 371 with advanced disease (stage 3 or higher or prostate cancer death). Compared with early-life residency in the capital area, rural residency in the first 20 years of life was marginally associated with increased risk of advanced prostate cancer (hazard ratio = 1.29, 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.97, 1.73), particularly among men born before 1920 (hazard ratio = 1.64, 95% CI: 1.06, 2.56). Daily milk consumption in adolescence (vs. less than daily), but not in midlife or currently, was associated with a 3.2-fold risk of advanced prostate cancer (95% CI: 1.25, 8.28). These data suggest that frequent milk intake in adolescence increases risk of advanced prostate cancer.

Disruption of the circadian system has been hypothesized to increase cancer risk, either due to direct disruption of the molecular machinery generating circadian rhythms or due to disruption of parameters controlled by the clock such as melatonin levels or sleep duration. This hypothesis has been studied in hormone-dependent cancers among women, but data are sparse regarding potential effects of circadian disruption on the risk of prostate cancer. This review systematically examines available data evaluating the effects of light at night, sleep patterns, and night shift work on prostate cancer risk.

Purpose

We examined patient-reported outcomes among prostate cancer patients managed by watchful waiting (WW) in a nationwide cohort.

Materials and Methods

We collected treatment information and patient-reported outcomes from 1230 prostate cancer patients diagnosed with T1-T2 prostate cancer in the Physicians’ Health Study; 125 were initially managed by WW. Cox proportional-hazards regression was used to identify predictors of treatment initiation among WW patients. Logistic regression was used to calculate odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) to assess disease-targeted quality of life by initial treatment or WW.

Results

At 7.3 years’ mean follow-up, 41% of WW patients remained free of treatment while 34% underwent radiotherapy or brachytherapy, 16% underwent primary hormonal therapy, and 10% underwent prostatectomy. Younger age, higher clinical stage, higher Gleason score, and higher PSA at diagnosis predicted progression to treatment. Watchful waiting compared to immediate treatment was associated with less urinary incontinence (3.5% vs 10%) and impotence (68% vs 78%) but more common obstructive urinary symptoms (22% vs 13%) in univariate analyses (p< 0.05 for each), with incontinence and impotence differences remaining significant after adjustment for age, comorbidity, and time after cancer diagnosis. Quality of life outcomes among men who underwent delayed treatment after initially waiting were not worse than among men who underwent immediate treatment.

Conclusions

Our findings suggest quality of life benefits subsequent to WW among select patients with early-stage prostate cancer compared to men treated immediately following diagnosis. Younger age and greater cancer severity at diagnosis predicted progression to treatment.

Clinical outcomes in prostate cancer are heterogeneous and given the high prevalence of the disease, there is a pressing need to identify clinically useful markers of prognosis. Many clinical, pathologic, molecular, and genetic factors have been investigated in this capacity though relatively few are routinely used. With a growing understanding of the molecular pathogenesis of prostate cancer, there is the potential that the next generation of makers will prove sufficiently robust to guide the optimal management of men with prostate cancer. Here, we review the various clinical and molecular prognostic determinants in prostate cancer.

Purpose

Data suggest that circulating 25-hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)D] interacts with the vitamin D receptor (VDR) to decrease proliferation and increase apoptosis for some malignancies, although evidence for prostate cancer is less clear. How VDR expression in tumor tissue may influence prostate cancer progression has not been evaluated in large studies.

Patients and Methods

We examined protein expression of VDR in tumor tissue among 841 patients with prostate cancer in relation to risk of lethal prostate cancer within two prospective cohorts, the Physicians' Health Study and Health Professionals Follow-Up Study. We also examined the association of VDR expression with prediagnostic circulating 25(OH)D and 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D levels and with two VDR single nucleotide polymorphisms, FokI and BsmI.

Results

Men whose tumors had high VDR expression had significantly lower prostate-specific antigen (PSA) at diagnosis (P for trend < .001), lower Gleason score (P for trend < .001), and less advanced tumor stage (P for trend < .001) and were more likely to have tumors harboring the TMPRSS2:ERG fusion (P for trend = .009). Compared with the lowest quartile, men whose tumors had the highest VDR expression had significantly reduced risk of lethal prostate cancer (hazard ratio [HR], 0.17; 95% CI, 0.07 to 0.41). This association was only slightly attenuated after adjustment for Gleason score and PSA at diagnosis (HR, 0.33; 95% CI, 0.13 to 0.83) or, additionally, for tumor stage (HR, 0.37; 95% CI, 0.14 to 0.94). Neither prediagnostic plasma vitamin D levels nor VDR polymorphisms were associated with VDR expression.

Conclusion

High VDR expression in prostate tumors is associated with a reduced risk of lethal cancer, suggesting a role of the vitamin D pathway in prostate cancer progression.

Purpose

Prostate-specific antigen screening has led to enormous overtreatment of prostate cancer because of the inability to distinguish potentially lethal disease at diagnosis. We reasoned that by identifying an mRNA signature of Gleason grade, the best predictor of prognosis, we could improve prediction of lethal disease among men with moderate Gleason 7 tumors, the most common grade, and the most indeterminate in terms of prognosis.

Patients and Methods

Using the complementary DNA–mediated annealing, selection, extension, and ligation assay, we measured the mRNA expression of 6,100 genes in prostate tumor tissue in the Swedish Watchful Waiting cohort (n = 358) and Physicians' Health Study (PHS; n = 109). We developed an mRNA signature of Gleason grade comparing individuals with Gleason ≤ 6 to those with Gleason ≥ 8 tumors and applied the model among patients with Gleason 7 to discriminate lethal cases.

Results

We built a 157-gene signature using the Swedish data that predicted Gleason with low misclassification (area under the curve [AUC] = 0.91); when this signature was tested in the PHS, the discriminatory ability remained high (AUC = 0.94). In men with Gleason 7 tumors, who were excluded from the model building, the signature significantly improved the prediction of lethal disease beyond knowing whether the Gleason score was 4 + 3 or 3 + 4 (P = .006).

Conclusion

Our expression signature and the genes identified may improve our understanding of the de-differentiation process of prostate tumors. Additionally, the signature may have clinical applications among men with Gleason 7, by further estimating their risk of lethal prostate cancer and thereby guiding therapy decisions to improve outcomes and reduce overtreatment.

Background

Coffee contains many biologically active compounds, including caffeine and phenolic acids, that have potent antioxidant activity and can affect glucose metabolism and sex hormone levels. Because of these biological activities, coffee may be associated with a reduced risk of prostate cancer.

Methods

We conducted a prospective analysis of 47 911 men in the Health Professionals Follow-up Study who reported intake of regular and decaffeinated coffee in 1986 and every 4 years thereafter. From 1986 to 2006, 5035 patients with prostate cancer were identified, including 642 patients with lethal prostate cancers, defined as fatal or metastatic. We used Cox proportional hazards models to assess the association between coffee and prostate cancer, adjusting for potential confounding by smoking, obesity, and other variables. All P values were from two-sided tests.

Results

The average intake of coffee in 1986 was 1.9 cups per day. Men who consumed six or more cups per day had a lower adjusted relative risk for overall prostate cancer compared with nondrinkers (RR = 0.82, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.68 to 0.98, Ptrend = .10). The association was stronger for lethal prostate cancer (consumers of more than six cups of coffee per day: RR = 0.40, 95% CI = 0.22 to 0.75, Ptrend = .03). Coffee consumption was not associated with the risk of nonadvanced or low-grade cancers and was only weakly inversely associated with high-grade cancer. The inverse association with lethal cancer was similar for regular and decaffeinated coffee (each one cup per day increment: RR = 0.94, 95% CI = 0.88 to 1.01, P = .08 for regular coffee and RR = 0.91, 95% CI = 0.83 to 1.00, P = .05 for decaffeinated coffee). The age-adjusted incidence rates for men who had the highest (≥6 cups per day) and lowest (no coffee) coffee consumption were 425 and 519 total prostate cancers, respectively, per 100 000 person-years and 34 and 79 lethal prostate cancers, respectively, per 100 000 person-years.

Conclusions

We observed a strong inverse association between coffee consumption and risk of lethal prostate cancer. The association appears to be related to non-caffeine components of coffee.

Genome-wide association studies have identified genetic markers in kallikrein-related peptidase 3 (KLK3) associated with prostate cancer. However, some of these markers are also associated with prostate-specific antigen (PSA) levels, so it is unclear whether the polymorphisms are causal or if the association with risk is solely due to detection bias through PSA screening. PSA is a biologically active serine protease, cleaving insulin-like growth factor-binding protein. We examined the association of single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in KLK3 with prostate cancer risk, disease-specific survival and pre-diagnostic PSA levels in a case–control study nested within the Physicians’ Health Study, which began in 1982, with over 27 years of follow-up. We genotyped SNPs spanning the entire KLK3 locus to capture common variation at high resolution. Six polymorphisms were significantly associated with prostate cancer incidence (P < 0.05); the odds ratios per minor allele ranged from 0.88 to 0.73. For four of these, the odds ratios were lower when restricting to cases diagnosed in the pre-PSA screening era (before 1989). The four alleles significantly associated with lower PSA levels were also associated with lower prostate cancer risk. KLK3 variants were not significantly associated with stage at diagnosis, risk of lethal cancer or survival. Our results suggest that detection bias due to the association of KLK3 variants with PSA levels cannot completely explain the association with prostate cancer risk. Understanding the mechanism by which genetic variation in KLK3 affects prostate cancer risk has important implications for study of the biological role of PSA in prostate tumorigenesis.

Fatty acid synthase (FASN), a key metabolic enzyme for liponeogenesis highly expressed in several human cancers, displays oncogenic properties such as resistance to apoptosis and induction of proliferation when overexpressed. To date, no mechanism has been identified to explain the oncogenicity of FASN in prostate cancer.

We generated immortalized prostate epithelial cells (iPrEC) overexpressing FASN, and found that 14C-acetate incorporation into palmitate synthesized de novo by FASN was significantly elevated in immunoprecipitated Wnt-1 when compared to isogenic cells not overexpressing FASN. Overexpression of FASN caused membranous and cytoplasmic β-catenin protein accumulation and activation, while FASN knockdown by short hairpin RNA (shRNA) resulted in a reduction in the extent of β-catenin activation. Orthotopic transplantation of iPrEC cells overexpressing FASN in nude mice resulted in invasive tumors that overexpressed β-catenin.

A strong significant association between FASN and cytoplasmic (stabilized) β-catenin immunostaining was found in 862 cases of human prostate cancer after computerized subtraction of the membranous β-catenin signal (P<0.001, Spearman’s rho=0.33). We propose that cytoplasmic stabilization of β-catenin through palmitoylation of Wnt-1 and subsequent activation of the pathway is a potential mechanism of FASN oncogenicity in prostate cancer.

Objective

Pregnancies reduce the risk of ovarian cancer and, among multiparous women, levels of circulating progesterone might be higher during pregnancies with wider birth spacing. We hypothesized that childbirth with wider birth spacing might reduce maternal risk of invasive epithelial ovarian cancer more than births with narrower spacing.

Methods

We conducted a case-control study nested in a nationwide cohort of Swedish women from 1961 to 2001. We selected five individually age-matched controls for each case of invasive epithelial ovarian cancer and analysis for the effect of birth spacing was performed for 5,341 cases and 29,047 controls. We applied unconditional logistic regression analyses adjusting for age, ages at childbirth, educational level, area of residence, and gender of offspring.

Results

Relative risk of invasive epithelial ovarian cancer associated with each one-year increase in average birth spacing is 1.00 (95% CI=0.98–1.01) among all women and 0.99 (0.98–1.01) among those born before 1935 and less likely to have used oral contraceptives. Further analyses on the biparous and triparous women did not find a consistent association between birth spacing and the risk of ovarian cancer.

Conclusions

Birth spacing is unlikely to be a major determinant underlying the protective effects of childbirth on ovarian cancer risk.

Background

A pressing clinical issue in prostate cancer (PCa) is to distinguish which men will have an indolent or aggressive course of disease. Clinical variables such as Gleason grade and stage are useful predictors of lethal cancer; however, the low predictive values of the common Gleason scores, changes in grading over time, and earlier diagnosis of patients due to screening limits their clinical utility. Identifying genetic variants associated with lethal PCa could inform clinical decision making.

Methods

We conducted a genome-wide association study comparing lethal PCa cases to cases surviving at least ten years beyond their initial diagnosis. Genotyping was performed with the Affymetrix 5.0 chip (~500,000 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and 1483 copy number variants (CNVs)) on DNA from participants in the Physicians’ Health Study and Health Professionals Follow-up Study (196 lethal cases, 368 long-term survivors). After excluding SNPs and individuals based on quality control criteria, logistic regression assuming an additive model was performed using PLINK software.

Results

No SNP reached genome-wide significance (p≤1×10−7), however three independent SNPs had p<1×10−5. One top-ranked SNP replicated (p=0.05) in an independent follow-up study. While no CNV had genome-wide significance, 14 CNVs showed nominal association with PCa mortality (p<0.05).

Conclusions

No variants were significantly associated at a genome-wide level with PCa mortality. Common genetic determinants of lethal PCa are likely to have odds ratios <2.0.

Impact

Genetic markers identified could provide biological insight to improve therapy for men with potentially fatal cancer. Larger studies are necessary to detect genetic causes of PCa mortality.

Background

Acrylamide is a probable human carcinogen formed during cooking of many common foods. Epidemiological studies of acrylamide and breast cancer risk have been null; however, positive associations with ovarian and endometrial cancers have been reported. We studied acrylamide intake and risk of breast, endometrial, and ovarian cancers in a prospective cohort study.

Methods

We assessed acrylamide intake among 88,672 women in the Nurses’ Health Study using food frequency questionnaires administered every four years. Between 1980 and 2006 we identified 6301 cases of invasive breast cancer, 484 cases of invasive endometrial adenocarcinoma, and 416 cases of epithelial ovarian cancer. We used Cox proportional hazards models to study the association between acrylamide and cancer risk.

Results

We found no association between acrylamide intake and breast cancer overall or according to estrogen and progesterone receptor status. We found an increased risk of endometrial cancer among high acrylamide consumers (adjusted relative risk [RR] for highest versus lowest quintile=1.41, 95% CI: 1.01–1.97, p-value for trend=0.03). We observed a non-significant suggestion of increased risk for ovarian cancer overall (RR 1.25, CI: 0.88–1.77, p-trend=0.12), with a significantly increased risk for serous tumors (RR 1.58, CI: 0.99–2.52, p-trend=0.04). Associations did not differ by smoking status.

Conclusions

We observed no association between acrylamide and breast cancer. Risk of endometrial cancer and possibly ovarian cancer was greater among high acrylamide consumers.

Impact

This is the second prospective study to report positive associations with endometrial and ovarian cancers. These associations should be further evaluated to inform public health policy.

Variation in genes contributing to the host immune response may mediate the relationship between inflammation and prostate carcinogenesis. RNASEL at chromosome 1q25 encodes ribonuclease L, part of the interferon-mediated immune response to viral infection. We therefore investigated the association between variation in RNASEL and prostate cancer risk and progression in a study of 1286 cases and 1264 controls nested within the prospective Physicians’ Health Study. Eleven single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) were selected using the web-based ‘Tagger’ in the HapMap CEPH panel (Utah residents of Northern and Western European Ancestry). Unconditional logistic regression models assessed the relationship between each SNP and incident advanced stage (T3/T4, T0-T4/M1 and lethal disease) and high Gleason grade (≥7) prostate cancer. Further analyses were stratified by calendar year of diagnosis. Cox proportional hazards models examined the relationship between genotype and prostate cancer-specific survival. We also explored associations between genotype and serum inflammatory biomarkers interleukin-6 (IL-6), C-reactive protein (CRP) and tumor necrosis factor-alpha receptor 2 using linear regression. Individuals homozygous for the variant allele of rs12757998 had an increased risk of prostate cancer [AA versus GG; odds ratio (OR): 1.63, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.18–2.25), and more specifically, high-grade tumors (OR: 1.90, 95% CI: 1.25–2.89). The same genotype was associated with increased CRP (P = 0.02) and IL-6 (P = 0.05) levels. Missense mutations R462Q and D541E were associated with an increased risk of advanced stage disease only in the pre-prostate-specific antigen era. There were no significant associations with survival. The results of this study support a link between RNASEL and prostate cancer and suggest that the association may be mediated through inflammation. These novel findings warrant replication in future studies.

Background

Incidence of prostate cancer (PCa) has greatly increased in the Nordic region over the past two decades, following the advent of prostate-specific antigen (PSA) screening. Consequently, interpreting temporal trends in PCa has become difficult, and the impact of changes in exposure to causal factors is uncertain.

Objective

To reveal geographic differences and temporal trends in PCa in the Nordic countries. Because the recorded incidence of PCa has been profoundly influenced by PSA screening, we focused our analyses primarily on PCa mortality.

Design, setting, and participants

We analyzed national PCa incidence and mortality data from Denmark, Finland, Norway, and Sweden from 1965 to 2006 using the PC-NORDCAN software program and the online NORDCAN database.

Measurements

Cumulative incidence and cumulative mortality from PCa were calculated for selected calendar years during four decades, along with age-standardized mortality rates. Incidence data in NORDCAN come from individual countries’ cancer registries, and mortality data come from national mortality registries.

Results and limitations

From 1965 to 2006, 172 613 deaths from PCa were reported in the four Nordic countries. A substantial rise in incidence was observed across the region, with some geographic variation, since the late 1980s. In contrast, both disease-specific mortality rates and cumulative risk of PCa mortality lacked consistent temporal trends over the same period. Cumulative risk of PCa mortality ranged between 3.5% and 7.5% in the region over four decades, whereas cumulative incidence jumped from about 9% to >20%. Mortality has remained fairly constant among the countries, with a minimally lower risk in Finland.

Conclusions

Unlike most malignancies, the occurrence of lethal PCa showed minimal geographic variation and lacked consistent temporal trends over four decades. These findings may guide our search for important causes of PCa, a malignancy with etiology that is still largely unknown.

Purpose

Fatty acid synthase (FASN) regulates de novo lipogenesis, body weight, and tumor growth. We examined whether common germline single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the FASN gene affect prostate cancer (PCa) risk or PCa-specific mortality and whether these effects vary by body mass index (BMI).

Methods

In a prospective nested case-control study of 1,331 white patients with PCa and 1,267 age-matched controls, we examined associations of five common SNPs within FASN (and 5 kb upstream/downstream, R2 > 0.8) with PCa incidence and, among patients, PCa-specific death and tested for an interaction with BMI. Survival analyses were repeated for tumor FASN expression (n = 909).

Results

Four of the five SNPs were associated with lethal PCa. SNP rs1127678 was significantly related to higher BMI and interacted with BMI for both PCa risk (Pinteraction = .004) and PCa mortality (Pinteraction = .056). Among overweight men (BMI ≥ 25 kg/m2), but not leaner men, the homozygous variant allele carried a relative risk of advanced PCa of 2.49 (95% CI, 1.00 to 6.23) compared with lean men with the wild type. Overweight patients carrying the variant allele had a 2.04 (95% CI, 1.31 to 3.17) times higher risk of PCa mortality. Similarly, overweight patients with elevated tumor FASN expression had a 2.73 (95% CI, 1.05 to 7.08) times higher risk of lethal PCa (Pinteraction = .02).

Conclusion

FASN germline polymorphisms were significantly associated with risk of lethal PCa. Significant interactions of BMI with FASN polymorphisms and FASN tumor expression suggest FASN as a potential link between obesity and poor PCa outcome and raise the possibility that FASN inhibition could reduce PCa-specific mortality, particularly in overweight men.

The insulin-like growth factor (IGF) pathway has been implicated in prostate development and carcinogenesis. We conducted a comprehensive analysis, utilizing a resequencing and tagging single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) approach, between common genetic variation in the IGF1, IGF binding protein (BP) 1, and IGFBP3 genes with IGF-I and IGFBP-3 blood levels, and prostate cancer (PCa) risk, among Caucasians in the NCI Breast and Prostate Cancer Cohort Consortium. We genotyped 14 IGF1 SNPs and 16 IGFBP1/IGFBP3 SNPs to capture common [minor allele frequency (MAF) ≥ 5%] variation among Caucasians. For each SNP, we assessed the geometric mean difference in IGF blood levels (N = 5684) across genotypes and the association with PCa risk (6012 PCa cases/6641 controls). We present two-sided statistical tests and correct for multiple comparisons. A non-synonymous IGFBP3 SNP in exon 1, rs2854746 (Gly32Ala), was associated with IGFBP-3 blood levels (Padj = 8.8 × 10−43) after adjusting for the previously established IGFBP3 promoter polymorphism A-202C (rs2854744); IGFBP-3 blood levels were 6.3% higher for each minor allele. For IGF1 SNP rs4764695, the risk estimates among heterozygotes was 1.01 (99% CI: 0.90–1.14) and 1.20 (99% CI: 1.06–1.37) for variant homozygotes with overall PCa risk. The corrected allelic P-value was 8.7 × 10−3. IGF-I levels were significantly associated with PCa risk (Ptrend = 0.02) with a 21% increase of PCa risk when compared with the highest quartile to the lowest quartile. We have identified SNPs significantly associated with IGFBP-3 blood levels, but none of these alter PCa risk; however, a novel IGF1 SNP, not associated with IGF-I blood levels, shows preliminary evidence for association with PCa risk among Caucasians.

The role of selenium in prostate cancer (PCa) risk remains controversial, but many epidemiologic studies suggest an inverse association with more aggressive disease. A recently discovered selenoprotein, SEP15, which is highly expressed in the prostate, may play a role either independently or by modifying the effects of selenium.

We genotyped four common single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) capturing common variation (frequency>5%, R2>0.8) within SEP15, as well as rs5859 in the 3′ UTR, previously reported to reduce the efficiency of selenium incorporation into SEP15. We examined the association of these SNPs with PCa risk and PCa-specific mortality, as well as interactions with plasma selenium levels, in the Physicians' Health Study.

In this nested case-control study (1286 cases, 1267 controls), SEP15 polymorphisms were not significantly associated with PCa risk. However, among the cases, three variants were significantly associated with PCa-specific mortality (rs479341 HR=1.94, 95% CI: 1.15, 3.25; rs1407131 HR=2.85, 95% CI: 1.45, 5.59; rs561104 HR=1.54, 95% CI: 1.12, 2.11) with a recessive model. Additionally, rs561104 significantly modified the association of plasma selenium with PCa survival (Pinteraction=0.02); an inverse relationship of high levels of selenium with PCa mortality was apparent only among those without the increased risk genotype.

This study provides evidence that SEP15 genetic variation may influence PCa mortality. Additionally, the association of selenium with PCa mortality was modified by a variant, suggesting the possibility that some men with PCa may benefit more from selenium than others depending on their genotype.

BRCA1 functions as a tumor suppressor; recent work suggests that BRCA1 may also induce cell-cycle arrest to allow for DNA repair. We hypothesized that BRCA1 expression in prostate tumor tissue may be associated with prostate cancer progression through regulation of the cell-cycle. We used immunohistochemistry to evaluate BRCA1 protein expression in archival tumors samples from 393 prostate cancer cases in the Physicians' Health Study. The men were followed prospectively from diagnosis to development of metastases and mortality. Fifteen percent of tumors stained positive for BRCA1. BRCA1 positive tumors had substantially increased tumor proliferation index compared to negative tumors (47.0 Ki67 positive nuclei vs. 10.3, p=0.0016), and were more likely to develop lethal cancer compared to BRCA1 negative tumors (Hazard ratio=4.6; 95% Confidence interval: 2.4, 8.7). These findings strengthen the hypothesis that BRCA1 plays a role in cell-cycle control and demonstrate that BRCA1 is a marker of clinical prostate cancer prognosis.

Background

The majority of prostate cancers harbor gene fusions of the 5′-untranslated region of the androgen-regulated transmembrane protease, serine 2 (TMPRSS2) promoter with erythroblast transformation specific (ETS) transcription factor family members. The common v-ets erythroblastosis virus E26 oncogene homolog [avian] (TMPRSS2–ERG) fusion is associated with a more aggressive clinical phenotype, implying the existence of a distinct subclass of prostate cancer defined by this fusion.

Methods

We used cDNA-mediated annealing, selection, ligation, and extension to determine the expression profiles of 6144 transcriptionally informative genes in archived biopsy samples from 455 prostate cancer patients in the Swedish Watchful Waiting cohort (1987–1999) and the US-based Physicians Health Study cohort (1983–2003). A gene expression signature for prostate cancers with the TMPRSS2-ERG fusion was determined using partitioning and classification models and used in computational functional analysis. Cell proliferation and TMPRSS2-ERG expression in androgen receptor–negative (NCI-H660) and –positive (VCaP-ERβ) prostate cancer cells after treatment with vehicle or estrogenic compounds were assessed by viability assays and quantitative polymerase chain reaction, respectively. All statistical tests were two-sided.

Results

We identified an 87-gene expression signature that distinguishes TMPRSS2-ERG fusion prostate cancer as a discrete molecular entity (area under the curve = 0.80, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.792 to 0.81; P<.001). Computational analysis suggested that this fusion signature was associated with estrogen receptor (ER) signaling. Viability of NCI-H660 cells decreased after treatment with estrogen (viability normalized to day 0, estrogen vs vehicle at day 8, mean = 2.04 vs 3.40, difference = 1.36, 95% CI = 1.12 to 1.62) or ERβ agonist (ERβ agonist vs vehicle at day 8, mean = 1.86 vs 3.40, difference = 1.54, 95% CI = 1.39 to 1.69) but increased after ERα agonist treatment (ERα agonist vs vehicle at day 8, mean = 4.36 vs 3.40, difference = 0.96, 95% CI = 0.68 to 1.23). Similarly, expression of TMPRSS2-ERG decreased after ERβ agonist treatment (fold change over internal control, ERβ agonist vs vehicle at 24 hours, NCI H660, mean = 0.57-fold vs 1.0-fold, difference = 0.43, 95% CI = 0.29-fold to 0.57-fold) and increased after ERα agonist treatment (ERα agonist vs vehicle at 24 hours, mean = 5.63-fold vs 1.0-fold, difference = 4.63-fold, 95% CI = 4.34-fold to 4.92-fold).

Conclusions

TMPRSS2-ERG fusion prostate cancer is a distinct molecular subclass. TMPRSS2-ERG expression is regulated by a novel ER-dependent mechanism.