| Disease | TWENTY-FIVE PATIENTS WITH PROSTATE CANCER WHO WERE AWAITING PROSTATECTOMY WERE INSTRUCTED ON A LOW-FAT (20% OF KILOCALORIES OR LESS), FLAXEED-SUPPLEMENTED (30 G/DAY) DIET. THE BASELINE AND FOLLOW-UP LEVELS OF PROSTATE-SPECIFIC CANTIGEN,
TESTOSTERONE, FREE ANDROGEN INDEX, AND TOTAL SERUM CHOLESTEROL WERE DETERMINED. THE TUMORS OF DIET-TREATED PATIENTS WERE COMPARED WITH THOSE OF HISTORIC CASES (MATCHED BY AGE, RACE, PROSTATE-SPECIFIC ANTIGEN LEVEL AT DIAGNOSIS, AND BIOPSY
GLEASON SUM) WITH RESPECT TO APOPTOSIS (TERMINAL DEOXYNUCLEOTIDYL TRANSFERASE [TDT]-MEDIATED DUTP-BIOTIN NICK END-LABELING [TUNEL]) AND PROLIFERATION (MIB-1). THE AVERAGE DURATION ON THE DIET WAS 34 DAYS (RANGE 21 TO 77), DURING WHICH TIME
SIGNIFICANT DECREASES WERE OBSERVED IN TOTAL SERUM CHOLESTEROL (201(DL)-39MG/DL TO 174(DL)-42MG/DL), TOTAL TESTOSTERONE (422(DL)-122NG/DL TO 360(DL)-128NG/DL), AND FREE ANDROGEN INDEX (36.3%(DL)-18.9% TO 29.3%(DL)-16.8%)(ALL P<0.05). THE
BASELINE AND FOLLOW-UP LEVELS OF PROSTATE-SPECIFIC ANTIGEN WERE 8.1(DL)-5.2NG/ML AND 8.5(DL)-7.7NG/ML, RESPECTIVELY, FOR THE ENTIRE SAMPLE (P=0.58); HOWEVER, AMONG MEN WITH GLEASON SUMS OF 6 OR LESS 9N=19), THE PSAVALUES WERE 7.1(DL)-3.9NG/ML
AND 6.4(DL)4.1NG/ML (P=0.10). THE MEAN PROLIFERATION INDEX WAS 7.4(DL)- 7.8 FOR THE HISTORIC CONTROLS VERSUS 5.0(DL)-4.9 FOR THE DIET-TREATED PATIENTS (P=0.05). THE DISTRIBUTION OF THE APOPTOTIC INDEXES DIFFERED SIGNIFICANTLY (P=0.01) BETWEEN
GROUPS, WITH MOST HISTORIC CONTROLS EXHIBITING TUNEL CATEGORICAL SCORES OF 0; DIET-TREATED PATIENTS LARGELY EXHIBITED SCORES OF 1. BOTH THE PROLIFERATION RATE AND APOPTOSIS WERE SIGNIFICANTLY ASSOCIATED WITH THE NUMBER OF DAYS ON THE DIET
(P=0.049 AND P=0.017, RESPECTIVELY). |