Lifestyle link to male cancer
Tuesday October 7th, 2008
A new discovery about a common male cancer may link it to lifestyle factors.
The research, announced last night, links prostate cancer to insulin-like growth factor-1 or IGF-1.
For some time researchers have been studying blood samples taken from men five years before cancer was diagnosed.
Now British researchers have brought together the findings of these studies to reach a conclusion.
The studies, involving nearly 9,000 men, show that high levels of IGF-1 were linked with men going on to develop prostate cancer.
The researchers say IGF-1 levels are known to be influenced by lifestyle factors such as diet.
The findings were reported in the Annals of Internal Medicine.
Researcher Dr Andrew Roddam, of the University of Oxford, said the link was not strong enough to mean the protein can be used to predict cancer.
He said: "There is a need to identify risk factors for prostate cancer, especially those which can be targeted by therapy and/or lifestyle changes.
"Now we know this factor is associated with the disease we can start to examine how diet and lifestyle factors can affect its levels and whether changes could reduce a man's risk.
"But it's important to point out that there is no evidence to suggest
that measurement of IGF-1 levels could be used to develop new prostate
screening
methods. Other studies have shown that existing methods of detecting prostate
cancer are not improved by also measuring IGF levels."
Annals of Internal Medicine. 2008;149:461 - 471
Tags: Cancer | Men’s Health | UK News
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