New investigation results, 'Biological mediators of effect of diet and stress reduction on prostate cancer,' are detailed in a study published in Integrative Cancer Therapies. "A 6-month pilot intervention trial was conducted to determine whether adoption of a plant-based diet, reinforced by stress reduction, could reduce the rate of prostate-specific antigen (PSA) increase, a marker of disease progression, in asymptomatic, hormonally untreated patients experiencing consistently increasing PSA levels after surgery or radiation. A pre-post design was used to examine (1) the effect of intervention on potential mediators of disease progression, including body composition and weight-related biomarkers (sex steroid hormones and cytokines), and (2) whether changes in these variables were associated with change in rate of PSA increase," scientists in the United States report (see also Cancer Prevention).

"The baseline rate of PSA increase (from the time of posttreatment recurrence to the start of intervention) was ascertained from medical records. Body composition and biomarkers were assessed at baseline (prior to intervention), during the intervention (3 months), and at the end of the intervention (6 months). Changes in body composition and biomarkers were determined and compared with rates of PSA increase over the corresponding time intervals. There was a significant reduction in waist-to-hip ratio (p=.03) and increase in circulating sex hormone binding globulin (p=.04). The rate of PSA increase decreased from the preintervention period (PSA slope=0.059) to the period from 0 to 3 months (PSA slope=0.002, p<.01) and increased slightly, although not significantly, from 0 to 3 months to the period from 3 to 6 months (0.029, p=.43). Adoption of a plant-based diet and stress reduction may reduce central adiposity and improve the hormonal milieu in patients with recurrent PC," wrote G.A. Saxe and colleagues, University of California, Moores Cancer Center.

The researchers concluded: "Changes in the rate of increase in PSA were in the same direction as changes in waist-to-hip ratio and opposite those of sex hormone binding globulin, raising the possibility that the effect of the intervention may have been mediated, in part, by these variables."

Saxe and colleagues published their study in Integrative Cancer Therapies (Biological mediators of effect of diet and stress reduction on prostate cancer. Integrative Cancer Therapies, 2008;7(3):130-8).

For more information, contact G.A. Saxe, University of California, Dept. of Family and Preventive Medicine, San Diego, Moores UCSD Cancer Center, San Diego, La Jolla, California 92093-0901 USA..

Publisher contact information for the journal Integrative Cancer Therapies is: SAGE Publications, USA , 2455 Teller Road, Thousand Oaks, CA 91320, USA.

Keywords: United States, San Diego, Cancer Prevention, Cytokines, Hormones, Oncology, Prostate Cancer, Prostate-Specific Antigen, Prostatic Neoplasms, Surgery, Therapy, Treatment.

This article was prepared by Cancer Weekly editors from staff and other reports. Copyright 2009, Cancer Weekly via NewsRx.com.

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