Comparison of Trace Metal Concentrations in Malign and Benign Human Prostate

Abstract

Imbalance in the composition of trace metals, recognized to be essential to normal human homeostasis, besides the accumulation of potentially toxic or nonessential trace metals, may cause disease. Thus, there is a need for their analysis in cancerous and noncancerous human tissues to examine the relationship between cancer and these elements. Trace metal concentrations including Cd, Ni, Zn, Cu, Fe, Mg, and Ca in both malign and benign prostate samples were determined by atomic absorption spectrophotometry. The tissues were digested by using microwave energy. In contrast to the literature data for zinc, the concentrations of calcium and zinc in the malign human prostate were found to be significantly higher than those in the benign human prostate (p < 0.05 for both metals). Similarly, the concentrations of iron, nickel, and magnesium in the malign prostate were also found to be higher than those in the benign prostate (p </= 0.1). Therefore, it is understood that more studies are needed regarding the increase or decrease in the metal (particularly Ca and Zn) concentrations of malign prostate samples.

Status and Interrelationship of Zinc, Copper, Iron, Calcium and Selenium in Prostate Cancer

“…Obtained concentration ranges for various elements in our study were similar to that reported in literature for wet benign and malignant prostatic tissues [10,12,13]. Of the five measured elements, a significant difference was noticed in the concentration of Se and Zn only between PCa and BPH groups.…”

“…By contrast, isolated studies have reported a significantly higher tissue level of zinc in PCa as compared to BPH [12] and normal prostatic tissue [27] or an insignificantly lower level of zinc level in PCa as compared to normal prostatic tissue [28]. There are conflicting reports about tissue zinc levels in BPH as well; some found a decrease [17] while others an increase [13] or no change [18,26] as compared to normal prostatic tissue.…”

“…Of the five measured elements, a significant difference was noticed in the concentration of Se and Zn only between PCa and BPH groups. While higher levels of Fe and Cu have been reported in diet [14], studies noted an insignificant difference in the levels of these elements in prostatic tissue [10,12], blood [15] and hair [16] of PCa patients as [17] showed significantly lower Se levels in PCa and BPH both (vs. normal prostatic tissue) with more significant decrease in case of cancer. In contrast, Zachara et al [18] found significantly (p \ 0.01) higher Se level in PCa as compared to both healthy controls and benign prostate hyperplasia.…”

Serum Levels of Trace Elements in Patients with Prostate Cancer

“…In that study, this finding was suggested to be related to suppression of oncogen-induced bowel carcinogenesis by Mg (Mori et al, 1992). In a previous study, it was found that Mg levels were higher in tissue specimens obtained from patients with prostate cancer than those obtained from benign prostate hyperplasia (Yaman et al, 2005). In our study, serum Mg levels were found to be significantly higher in the patients with prostate cancer compared to controls.…”

“…This can explain increased Cu levels in involved tissues (Uauy et al, 1998;Majumder et al, 2009). In a previous study, Cu levels found to be slightly higher in tissues with prostate cancer compared to those from benign prostate specimens (Yaman et al, 2005). In another study, copper levels at hair and nail were found to be significantly higher in patients with prostate cancer (Karimil et al, 2012).…”