Absence of Relationship Between Steroid Hormone Levels and Prostate Cancer Tumor Grade
This study was first presented at the 2008 American Society for Clinical Oncology Genitourinary Cancers Symposium, February 14-16, 2008, San Francisco, California.
Received 19 April 2008; accepted 15 July 2008. published online 26 November 2008.
Refers to article:
Editorial Comment
Susan F. Slovin
Urology
February 2009 (Vol. 73, Issue 2, Pages 361-362) Full Text |
Full-Text PDF (61 KB)
To analyze the relationship between plasma testosterone and estradiol levels on prostate biopsy and radical prostatectomy Gleason scores in a cohort of patients with newly diagnosed prostate cancer.
Methods
Patients with prostate cancer evaluated at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute from 2001 to 2005 who were enrolled in a prospective sample banking protocol were eligible for this study. Stored plasma was processed for total testosterone, total estradiol, and sex hormone-binding globulin levels using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays. The frequency of high-grade biopsy and radical prostatectomy Gleason scores (>6) was the primary endpoint. Univariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses were performed to determine the relationship between the hormone levels and high-grade Gleason scores while adjusting for sex hormone-binding globulin, age, body mass index, and prostate-specific antigen.
Results
A total of 539 patients were included in this study, 199 of whom underwent radical prostatectomy. The median prostate-specific antigen level was 5.1 ng/dL, and 67% of the cancers were not palpable. The Gleason score was 2-6, 7, and 8-10 in 53%, 37%, and 10% of the cancers, respectively. On univariate analysis of the high-grade biopsy and radical prostatectomy Gleason score, the total testosterone, total estradiol, and estradiol-to-testosterone ratio were not significant as continuous or categorical variables. Adjusting these results for sex hormone-binding globulin level, body mass index, age, and prostate-specific antigen level did not change the conclusions, and these results were unchanged when categorizing high-grade prostate cancer as Gleason score 8-10.
Conclusions
No relationship was found between the circulating steroid hormone levels and the Gleason score in this cohort.
bDepartment of Medicine, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston, Massachusetts
cDepartment of Biostatistics and Computational Biology, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, Massachusetts
dLank Center for Genitourinary Oncology, Department of Medical Oncology, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, Massachusetts
Reprint requests: William K. Oh, M.D., Lank Center for Genitourinary Oncology, Department of Medical Oncology, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, 44 Binney Street, Boston, MA 02115
This study was supported by the Bing Sound Wong Fund for Prostate Cancer Research and Louis DiGiovanni Fund (both to W. K. Oh).
ABSTRACT