Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
Pivot Concepts:   Target Concepts:
Query: UMLS:C0376358 (prostate cancer)
 59,338 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Measuring the free:total ratio of prostate-specific antigen (f/t-PSA) can improve the specificity of single-serum PSA values, distinguishing between benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) and prostatic carcinoma (PCa) in men over the age of 50. Additionally, clinical trials have shown that dihydroxyvitamin D3 can slow the rate of PSA rise in PCa patients. However, little is known regarding the applicability of those findings in men undergoing chronic peritoneal dialysis (CPD). In the present study, we investigated the prevalence of increased serum PSA levels among CPD patients and correlated those values with serum levels of vitamin D [25-hydroxyvitamin D3 and 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3]. We undertook a cross-sectional study of 71 male CPD patients without a known history of prostate cancer from 24 centers in Canada, Greece, and Turkey. All of the patients were more than 50 years of age. In these patients, we measured serum concentrations of PSA, free PSA (f-PSA), total PSA (t-PSA), prostate alkaline phosphatase (PAP), 25-hydroxyvitamin D3, 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3, and intact parathyroid hormone (iPTH). We recorded serum PSA levels < 4 ng/mL in 62 patients (87.3%, group A) and levels > 4 ng/mL in 9 patients (12.7%, group B). The f/t-PSA ratio was < 0.25 in 16 patients (22.5%). Group B patients were older than those in group A (median: 73 years vs. 65 years, p < 0.01) and had a lower body weight (median: 66.5 kg vs. 76.7 kg, p < 0.05). We observed no statistically significant difference between the two groups for serum 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3 (median: 9.8 ng/mL vs. 10.1 ng/mL) or 25-hydroxyvitamin D3 (8 ng/mL vs. 8.2 ng/mL) levels. Also, we observed no correlation between vitamin D levels and f/t-PSA, but iPTH levels were significantly higher in group A (200.5 pg/mL vs. 61.2 pg/mL, p < 0.04). Also, serum PAP levels correlated significantly with PSA (r = 0.49, p = 0.01) and with f-PSA (r = 0.56, p = 0.000). Our results showed no clear relationship between vitamin D and serum levels of PSA or-of f/t-PSA in PD patients. However, further studies are needed to better define the uses of these PSA markers in PD patients because, in such patients, other relevant factors might be implicated in their predictive value.
Adv Perit Dial 2004
PMID:Serum levels of prostate-specific antigen and vitamin D in peritoneal dialysis patients. 1538 27

Mortality rates from prostate cancer are significantly higher among African Americans than Caucasian Americans and are inversely related to the availability of ultraviolet (UV) radiation. These findings support the hypothesis, originally proposed in 1990, that prostate cancer may be caused by vitamin D deficiency. In 1992, specific receptors for 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D [1,25(OH)2D] were demonstrated in human prostate cells. We and others have shown that 1,25(OH)2D exerts prodifferentiating, antiproliferative, and antimetastatic effects on these cells. In 1998 we demonstrated that normal prostate cells express 1alpha-hydroxylase and synthesize their own 1,25(OH)2D. Thus, 1,25(OH)2D is an autocrine hormone in the prostate. The consensus emerging from analytic epidemiologic studies is that low levels of UV radiation/vitamin D are indeed associated with an increased risk of prostate cancer in individual men. The evolution of our understanding of the role of vitamin D in the epidemiology of prostate cancer parallels our understanding of the role of vitamin D in the epidemiology of rickets. In both diseases, ecologic observations about UV radiation preceded experimental observations and were subsequently validated by them.
Semin Dial
PMID:Vitamin D and the epidemiology of prostate cancer. 1607 49