Study Seeks Link Between Obesity, Prostate Cancer

Obese men with prostate cancer have a higher likelihood of developing a progressive or fatal form of the disease, regardless of when they are diagnosed.

To learn why, researchers at UIC’s Institute for Health Research and Policy were awarded a five-year, $3 million grant from the National Cancer Institute to study the link between body fat and prostate cancer.

The researchers want to identify the biological factors responsible for poorer outcomes among obese patients, says Vincent Freeman, assistant professor of epidemiology and principal investigator of the study.

The findings could help prevent prostate cancer recurrence or progression after treatment, using drug therapies, lifestyle changes or both, Freeman said.

Freeman’s research team will enroll about 500 men from Chicago-area medical centers who have been diagnosed with clinically early-stage prostate cancer and are likely candidates for surgery.

Body fat will be determined at the time of diagnosis and one year after surgery, through standard measurements like waist circumference and body mass index, and body composition measurements using X-rays to measure the relative amounts of bone, body water and body fat.

Data will be collected for the patient’s body-weight history, diet, physical activity level, general health and socio-demographic background.

At the time of surgery, the researchers will collect prostate tissue and fat tissue from the region of the prostate gland for a series of biochemical and molecular studies, Freeman said.

They will measure fatty acids and their metabolites, the activity of a signaling pathway called the insulin-like growth factor axis, inflammatory factors produced by fat cells, and metabolites of male hormones.

The tests “will determine whether the activity of certain metabolic pathways explains the association between body fatness and prostate cancer recurrence,” Freeman said.

Patients will be followed for two years with periodic measurements of prostate-specific antigen (PSA), a protein produced by the prostate gland.

Prostate cancer recurrence is identified by an increase in PSA. The PSA should remain in an undetectable range after surgery for prostate cancer.

-- Sherri McGinnis Gonzalez