Department of Medicinal Chemistry and Pharmacognosy, University of Illinois College of Pharmacy, Chicago, IL, United States.
Consumption of tomato products is associated with a decreased risk of prostate cancer, and lycopene, the red carotenoid in the tomato, is a potent antioxidant that might contribute to this chemoprevention activity. A double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled trial of 105 African American men veterans, recommended for prostate biopsy to detect cancer was carried out to investigate whether oral administration of lycopene increases lycopene levels in blood and prostate tissue and lowers markers of oxidative stress. Urology patients were randomly assigned to receive 30 mg/d of lycopene as a tomato oleoresin or placebo for 21-days prior to prostate biopsy for possible diagnosis of prostate cancer. A total of 47 men were diagnosed with prostate cancer and 58 were diagnosed with benign prostate hyperplasia. Diet, smoking, and drinking habits were assessed. For the men receiving lycopene, the mean lycopene concentration increased from 0.74 ± 0.39 to 1.43 ± 0.61 µmol/L in plasma (P < 0.0001) and from 0.45 ± 0.53 to 0.59 ± 0.47 pmol/mg in prostate tissue (P = 0.005). No significant changes in the DNA oxidation product 8-oxo-deoxyguanosine or the lipid peroxidation product malondialdehyde were observed in prostate tissue or plasma, respectively, as a result of lycopene administration.
Written by:
van Breemen RB, Sharifi R, Viana M, Pajkovic N, Zhu D, Yuan L, Yang Y, Bowen PE, Stacewicz-Sapuntzakis M. Are you the author?
Reference: Cancer Prev Res (Phila). 2011 Mar 23. Epub ahead of print.
doi: 10.1158/1940-6207.CAPR-10-0288
PubMed Abstract
PMID: 21430075
UroToday.com Prostate Cancer Section
