Prediagnostic Serum Organochlorine Concentrations and Metastatic Prostate Cancer: A Nested Case-Control Study in the Norwegian Janus Serum Bank Cohort.
BACKGROUND
Organochlorine (OC) insecticides and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) have been shown to have estrogenic, antiestrogenic, or antiandrogenic properties; as a result, the impact of exposure to these compounds and risk of hormonal cancers, such as prostate cancer, is a concern.


OBJECTIVE
We conducted a nested case-control study, using prospectively collected serum, to estimate associations between OC exposures and metastatic prostate cancer in a population-based cohort from Norway.


METHODS
Sera from 150 cases and 314 controls matched on date of blood draw, age at blood draw, and region was used to determine concentrations of 11 OC pesticide metabolites and 34 PCB congeners. Odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (95% CIs) for quartiles of lipid-corrected metabolite levels were calculated using conditional logistic regression.


RESULTS
Metastatic prostate cancer was two times as likely among men with serum concentrations of oxychlordane in the highest quartile compared with those in the lowest quartile (OR = 2.03; 95% CI: 1.03, 4.03; p-trend 0.05). Elevated but nonsignificant ORs were estimated for the highest versus lowest quartile of heptachlor epoxide, HCB, and mirex, although these exposures were correlated with oxychlordane. Findings for specific PCB congeners showed a significant inverse association between natural log-transformed lipid-adjusted PCB 44 and metastatic prostate cancer (OR = 0.74; 95% CI: 0.56, 0.97; p-trend = 0.02).


CONCLUSIONS
Our study highlights the importance of estimating associations with specific OC chemicals and suggests a possible role of OC insecticides and PCBs in the etiology of metastatic prostate cancer.


BACKGROUND
Koutros S, Langseth H, Grimsrud TK, Barr DB, Vermeulen R, Portengen L, Wacholder S, Beane Freeman LE, Blair A, Hayes RB, Rothman N, Engel LS. 2015. Prediagnostic serum organochlorine concentrations and metastatic prostate cancer: a nested case-control study in the Norwegian Janus Serum Bank cohort. Environ Health Perspect 123:867-872; http://dx.doi.org/10.1289/ehp.1408245.
Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics, National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, Department of Health and Human Services, Bethesda, Maryland, USA.
Stella
S
Koutros
Hilde
H
Langseth
Tom K
TK
Grimsrud
Dana Boyd
DB
Barr
Roel
R
Vermeulen
Lützen
L
Portengen
Sholom
S
Wacholder
Laura E Beane
LE
Freeman
Aaron
A
Blair
Richard B
RB
Hayes
Nathaniel
N
Rothman
Lawrence S
LS
Engel
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D006801:Humans; D006843:Hydrocarbons, Chlorinated / Q000097:blood*; D007306:Insecticides / Q000097:blood*; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009362:Neoplasm Metastasis; D009664:Norway; D011078:Polychlorinated Biphenyls / Q000097:blood; D011446:Prospective Studies; D011471:Prostatic Neoplasms / Q000097:blood* / Q000139:chemically induced / Q000473:pathology
D006843:Hydrocarbons, Chlorinated; D007306:Insecticides; D011078:Polychlorinated Biphenyls