Leptin and prostate cancer.
BACKGROUND
Higher prostate cancer mortality rates among US immigrants from countries with lower rates suggest environmental influences on prostate carcinogenesis (e.g., diet, body composition).


METHODS
In a study identifying determinants of clinically relevant prostate cancer, we compared plasma concentrations of leptin, an adiposity-related hormone, in 48 men with tumors </= 0.5 cc measured after radical prostatectomy and 151 men with tumors > 0.5 cc in volume or with histologic evidence of extraprostatic extension but without metastases ("high-volume disease"), matched by age (+/- 5 years) and year at diagnosis (+/- 1 year).


RESULTS
Men with high-volume disease exhibited higher leptin concentrations overall and after stratification by age, testosterone level, height, and body mass index (BMI). Analysis revealed that men with elevated leptin concentrations had an increased risk of diagnosis with high-volume disease (odds ratio (OR) = 2.35, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.01-5.44), as did men with high leptin and high testosterone (OR = 9.73, 95% CI = 2.05-46.24) and men >/=5'8" with high leptin (OR = 3.67, 95% CI = 1.40-9.63).


CONCLUSIONS
Leptin may affect the risk of clinically relevant prostate cancer through testosterone and factors related to stature and obesity.
Chang
S
S
Department of Epidemiology, Box 189, University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, 1515 Holcombe Blvd., Houston, TX 77030-4095, USA. Schang@mdanderson.org
Hursting
S D
SD
Contois
J H
JH
Strom
S S
SS
Yamamura
Y
Y
Babaian
R J
RJ
Troncoso
P
P
Scardino
P S
PS
Wheeler
T M
TM
Amos
C I
CI
Spitz
M R
MR
D000368:Aged; D001827:Body Height; D015992:Body Mass Index; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D006801:Humans; D020738:Leptin / Q000097:blood*; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D011471:Prostatic Neoplasms / Q000097:blood* / Q000473:pathology; D011863:Radioimmunoassay; D012044:Regression Analysis; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D013739:Testosterone / Q000097:blood; D044465:White People
D020738:Leptin; D013739:Testosterone