Free Test and Prostate

[ironhead405]

Swale, i'm sure you've seen this info, but i was curious about your take on it...

"Men over 50 years of age with high blood levels of testosterone have an increased risk of prostate cancer, says a new study by researchers at Johns Hopkins. The finding casts some doubt on the safety of testosterone replacement therapy, the investigators say.

The researchers measured levels of testosterone in almost 3,000 blood samples collected over a 40-year period from 759 men, of whom 111 were diagnosed with prostate cancer. One form of testosterone, called free testosterone, which is biologically active and can be used by the prostate, was found to be associated with increased prostate cancer risk, according to J. Kellogg Parsons, the lead researcher at Johns Hopkins.

The association between free testosterone and prostate cancer risk in older men was not affected by height, weight, percent of body fat, or muscle mass. Total testosterone levels and dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate (DHEAS), another androgenic hormone, were also unrelated to prostate cancer risk, while the protein that binds testosterone in blood, called sex hormone-binding globulin (SHBG), was associated with a slightly decreased risk for prostate cancer."

 

[ENDRO]

It would be interesting to take a similar size group of men that have been on HRT and run the study and see if the results are simular. From all the studies I have read HRT raises PSA values very little if at all meaning the effect on the prostate is nill.

 

[SWALE]

This study shows that men who have low Free T levels are more likely to have more aggressive, make that MUCH more aggressive prostate CA:

"Low free T correlates with positive biopsies and high Gleason Score."

Hoffman MA. Is Low Serum Free Testosterone a Marker for High Grade Prostate Cancer? J Urol 2000 Mar;163(3):824-7

How about men who are actually receiving TRT?

The incidence of prostate cancer is not increased by T administration.

Anabolic-Androgenic Steroid Therapy in the Treatment of Chronic Diseases. J Clinical Endocrinol Metabol Vol. 86, No. 11 5108-5117

And another:

There is no clinical evidence that the risk of either prostate cancer or BPH increases with TRT.

Finally, a study involving a pre-cancerous condition called PIN:

After 1 year of TRT men with PIN do not have a greater increase in PSA or a significantly increased risk of cancer than men without PIN. These results indicate that TRT is not contraindicated in men with a history of PIN."

Rhoden El, et al. TRT in hypogonadal men at high risk for prostate cancer: results of 1 year of treatment in men with Prostatic Intraepithelial Neoplasia. J Urol. 2003 Dec;170(6 Pt 1):2348-51.