title: The effect of eicosapentaenoic acid on prostate-specific antigen.
abstract: The "Study of EPA Effects on Prostate Cancer" (SEEPC) Group has been conducting a clinical trial with patients who underwent radical prostatectomy. The main purpose of the SEEPC is to evaluate whether eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) prevents prostate cancer (PC) recurrence. As the surrogate marker of recurrence, the prostate-specific antigen (PSA) level was measured. However, if EPA affects the PSA values independently of PC, PSA may not be a good marker of recurrence in the event of EPA treatment. Thus, in the present study, whether EPA affected the PSA values was investigated using non-PC volunteers. Twenty men, of at least 50 years of age, were recruited, mostly from hospital staff The volunteers were randomly allocated either to the EPA group or the control. The subjects in the EPA group were administered EPA-ethyl ester a dose of 2400 mg/day for 12 weeks, whereas the controls were administered none. Fasting blood samples were obtained before the start of EPA administration and 4 and 12 weeks later. The EPA concentrations in erythrocytes increased in all the subjects in the EPA group (174+/-96%) with no significant changes in the control group (8.5+/-14.0%). There were no significant differences between the two groups in the serum PSA levels, allowing the conclusion that the PSA is an appropriate surrogate marker of recurrence in prostate cancer.
authors.affiliation: Division of Clinical Application, Department of Clinical Sciences, Institute of Natural Medicine, University of Toyama, Toyama, Japan. hamazaki@ms.toyama-mpu.ac.jp
authors.forename: Kei
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Hamazaki
authors.forename: Eiji
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Higashihara
authors.forename: Toshiro
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Terachi
authors.forename: Hideho
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Takada
authors.forename: Tadashi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Matsuda
authors.forename: Mutsushi
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kawakita
authors.forename: Hideki
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Fuse
authors.forename: Tomohito
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Hamazaki
authors.forename: Shuji
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kameyama
authors.forename: Motoyuki
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Masai
authors.forename: Yutaka
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Chiba
authors.forename: Masatoshi
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Tokunaga
authors.forename: Yuzo
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Furuya
authors.forename: Takatsugu
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Okegawa
authors.forename: Takashi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Murota
authors.forename: Gen
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Kawa
authors.forename: Miho
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Itomura
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000097:blood*; D015118:Eicosapentaenoic Acid / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000494:pharmacology*; D004912:Erythrocytes / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D017430:Prostate-Specific Antigen / Q000097:blood*; D013997:Time Factors
chemical_list: D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; D015118:Eicosapentaenoic Acid; D017430:Prostate-Specific Antigen