Highlights of This Issue Free

Metastases from men with castration resistant prostate cancer (CRPC) express increased levels of androgens, compared to untreated prostate cancers (PCa). Wright and colleagues examined whether the sequence and expression of SLCO genes, which encode proteins that mediate androgen transport into PCa cells, were associated with risk of PCa metastases. SLCO gene sequence and expression were analyzed in untreated PCa and metastatic CRPC tumors. The authors found that CRPC metastases had increased expression of six SLCO genes, and carriers of certain variant alleles of SLCO2B1 and SLCO1B3 had an increased risk of PCa-specific mortality. This study suggests that SLCO genes are potential biomarkers for assessing risk of PCa-specific mortality.

There is racial/ethnic variation in mammography use patterns before and after age 40. To explore this, Kapp and colleagues investigated racial/ethnic differences in future mammography behavior among women who had received a baseline screening mammogram before age 40. Using data from the Breast Cancer Surveillance Consortium (BCSC), the authors identified and followed women for two outcomes: (1) future BCSC mammography and (2) delay in screening mammography until ages 43-45 compared to 40-42. The authors report that Hispanic women had an increased risk of no future BCSC mammography, relative to non-Hispanic white women. Among women with future BCSC screening mammography, African American women were more likely to delay the timing. This work indicates that race/ethnicity is differentially associated with obtaining future BCSC mammography and the timing of that screening.

Whether or not lycopene reduces the risk of prostate cancer remains controversial. In a nested case-control study, Kristal and colleagues examined the association of serum lycopene with prostate cancer risk among participants in the Prostate Cancer Prevention Trial (PCPT), a placebo-controlled trial of finasteride for prostate cancer prevention. The authors found no associations of lycopene with prostate cancer risk. This study does not support a role for lycopene in prostate cancer prevention.

Healthy lifestyle behaviors could have a role in ameliorating some of the adverse-effects of androgen suppression therapy (AST) in men with prostate cancer. Bourke and colleagues assessed the feasibility of a tapered supervised exercise program in combination with dietary advice, in men with advanced prostate cancer receiving AST. The authors found that, compared with standard care controls, the lifestyle intervention group demonstrated improvements in many health outcomes including exercise behavior, dietary fat intake, and muscle strength. This study provides evidence that pragmatic lifestyle interventions have potential to evoke improvements in important health outcomes in men with advanced prostate cancer receiving AST.