| Disease | TWENTY-SIX MEN WITH NEWLY DIAGNOSED, CLINICALLY LOCALIZED (14 T1 AND 12 T2) PROSTATE CANCER WERE RANDOMLY ASSIGNED TO RECEIVE 15 MG OF LYCOPENE (N=15) TWICE DAILY OR NO SUPPLEMENTATION-(N = 11) FOR 3 WEEKS BEFORE RADICAL PROSTATECTOMY.
BIOMARKERS OF DIFFERENTIATION AND APOPTOSIS WERE ASSESSED BY WESTERN BLOT ANALYSIS ON BENIGN AND MALIGNANT PARTS OF THE PROSTATE GLAND. PROSTATECTOMY SPECIMENTS WERE INTIRELY EMBEDDED, STEP-SECTIONED, AND EVALUATED FOR PATHOLOGICAL STAGE,
GLEASON SCORE, VOLUME OF CANCER, AND EXTEND OF HIGH-GRADE PROSTATIC INTRAEPITHELIAL NEOPLASIA. PLASMA LEVELS OF LYCOPENE, INSULIN-LIKE GROWTH FACTOR-1 (IGF-1), IGF BINDING PROTEIN-3, AND PROSTATE-SPECIFIC ANTIGEN WERE MEASURED AT BASELINE AND
AFTER 3 WEEKS OF SUPPLEMENTATION OR OBSERVATION. ELEVEN (73%) SUBJECTS IN THE INTERVENTION GROUP HAD NO INVOLVEMENT OF SURGICAL MARGINS AND/OR EXTRA-PROSTATIC TISSUES WITH CANCER (P=0.02). TWELEVE (84%) SUBJECTS IN THE LYCOPENE GROUP AND FIVE
(45%) SUBJECTS IN THE CONTROL GROUP HAD TUMORS <4 ML IN SIZE (P=0.22). DIFFUSE IN VOLVEMENT OF THE PROSTATE BY HIGH-GRADE PROSTATIC INTRAEPITHELIAL NEOPLASIA WAS PRESENT IN 10 (67%) SUBJECTS IN THE INTERVENTION GROUP AND IN 11 (100%) SUBJECTS
IN THE CONTROL GROUP (P=0.05). PLASMA PROSTATE-SPECIFIC ANTIGEN LEVELS DECREASED BY 18% IN THE INTERVENTION GROUP, WHEREAS THEY INCREASED BY 14% IN THE CONTROL GROUP (P=0.25). EXPRESSION OF CONNEXIN 43 IN CANCEROUS PROSTATE TISSUE WAS 0.63 +
0.19 ABSORBANCE IN THE LYCOPENE GROUP COMPARED WITH 0.25 + 0.08 IN THE CONTROL GROUP (P=0.13). EXPRESSION OF BCL-2 AND BAX DID NOT DIFFER SIGNIFICANTLY BETWEEN THE TWO STUDY GROUPS. IGF-1 LEVELS DECREASED IN BOTH GROUPS (P=0.0002 AND P=0.0003,
RESPECTIVELY). THE RESULTS SUGGEST THAT LYCOPENE SUPPLEMENTATION MAY DECREASE THE GROWTH OF PROSTATE CANCER. HOWEVER, NO FIRM CONCLUSIONS CAN BE DRAWN AT THIS TIME BECAUSE OF THE SMALL SAMPLE SIZE. |