Cancer Epidemiology Biomarkers & Prevention, Vol 5, Issue 2 115-119, Copyright © 1996 by American Association for Cancer Research

ARTICLES

Correlation between biomarkers of omega-3 fatty acid consumption and questionnaire data in African American and Caucasian United States males with and without prostatic carcinoma

PA Godley, MK Campbell, C Miller, P Gallagher, FE Martinson, JL Mohler and RS Sandler
Division of Hematology/Oncology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill 27599-7305, USA.

Results from animal studies suggest that omega-3 fatty acids from marine sources are protective against cancer. To determine whether adipose tissue and erythrocyte membrane fatty acid composition could serve as biomarkers of essential fatty acid consumption in subjects with prostate cancer, we compared fish consumption, which was estimated using a food frequency survey, to the omega-3 fatty acid content of adipose tissue and erythrocyte membranes. The study was conducted using 127 men who had undergone a prostate biopsy. All subjects were recruited from a university hospital urology clinic. African Americans comprised 23% of the subjects, and 70% were diagnosed with prostate cancer. We found a correlation of 0.44 with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) = 0.29-0.57 between reported fish consumption and the omega-3 fatty acid eicosapentaenoic acid composition in erythrocyte membranes and 0.38 with 95% CI = 0.21-0.53 when the dietary survey was compared to eicosapentaenoic acid in adipose tissue. The survey/biomarker correlations in cases were not significantly different from the correlations in controls. The study had 90% power to detect a 0.35 difference between correlations. These results suggest that the presence of prostate cancer does not affect the adipose tissue or erythrocyte membrane biomarkers of fatty acid consumption, and that erythrocyte membranes are as useful as biomarkers as is adipose tissue. Our findings corroborate previous studies that found that tissue biomarkers can reflect past fatty acid consumption and support the use of biomarkers in case-control studies using cancer patients.

This article has been cited by other articles:

				Q. Sun, J. Ma, H. Campos, S. E Hankinson, and F. B Hu Comparison between plasma and erythrocyte fatty acid content as biomarkers of fatty acid intake in US women Am. J. Clinical Nutrition, July 1, 2007; 86(1): 74 - 81. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				M. F Leitzmann, M. J Stampfer, D. S Michaud, K. Augustsson, G. C Colditz, W. C Willett, and E. L Giovannucci Dietary intake of n-3 and n-6 fatty acids and the risk of prostate cancer Am. J. Clinical Nutrition, July 1, 2004; 80(1): 204 - 216. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				I. A. Brouwer, M. B. Katan, and P. L. Zock Dietary {alpha}-Linolenic Acid Is Associated with Reduced Risk of Fatal Coronary Heart Disease, but Increased Prostate Cancer Risk: A Meta-Analysis J. Nutr., April 1, 2004; 134(4): 919 - 922. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				L. Arab Biomarkers of Fat and Fatty Acid Intake J. Nutr., March 1, 2003; 133(3): 925S - 932. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				B. H. Chung, S. H. Mitchell, J.-S. Zhang, and C. Y. F. Young Effects of docosahexaenoic acid and eicosapentaenoic acid on androgen-mediated cell growth and gene expression in LNCaP prostate cancer cells Carcinogenesis, August 1, 2001; 22(8): 1201 - 1206. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				E. Fernandez, L. Chatenoud, C. La Vecchia, E. Negri, and S. Franceschi Fish consumption and cancer risk Am. J. Clinical Nutrition, July 1, 1999; 70(1): 85 - 90. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]