CORRELATION BETWEEN BIOMARKERS OF OMEGA-3-FATTY-ACID CONSUMPTION AND QUESTIONNAIRE DATA IN AFRICAN-AMERICAN AND CAUSCASIAN UNITED-STATES MALES WITH AND WITHOUT PROSTATIC-CARCINOMA
Pa. Godley et al., CORRELATION BETWEEN BIOMARKERS OF OMEGA-3-FATTY-ACID CONSUMPTION AND QUESTIONNAIRE DATA IN AFRICAN-AMERICAN AND CAUSCASIAN UNITED-STATES MALES WITH AND WITHOUT PROSTATIC-CARCINOMA, Cancer epidemiology, biomarkers & prevention, 5(2), 1996, pp. 115-119
Results from animal studies suggest that omega-3 fatty acids from mari
ne sources are protective against cancer, To determine whether adipose
tissue and erythrocyte membrane fatty acid composition could serve as
biomarkers of essential fatty acid consumption in subjects with prost
ate cancer, we compared fish consumption, which was estimated using a
food frequency survey, to the omega-3 fatty acid content of adipose ti
ssue and erythrocyte membranes. The study was conducted using 127 men
who had undergone a prostate biopsy, All subjects were recruited from
a university hospital urology clinic, African Americans comprised 23%
of the subjects, and 70% were diagnosed with prostate cancer, We found
a correlation of 0.44 with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) = 0.29-0.57
between reported fish consumption and the omega-3 fatty acid eicosape
ntaenoic acid composition in erythrocyte membranes and 0.38 with 95% C
I = 0.21-0.53 when the dietary survey was compared to eicosapentaenoic
acid in adipose tissue. The survey/biomarker correlations in cases we
re not significantly different from the correlations in controls. The
study had 90% power to detect a 0.35 difference between correlations.
These results suggest that the presence of prostate cancer does not af
fect the adipose tissue or erythrocyte membrane biomarkers of fatty ac
id consumption, and that erythrocyte membranes are as useful as biomar
kers as is adipose tissue. Our findings corroborate previous studies t
hat found that tissue biomarkers can reflect past fatty acid consumpti
on and support the use of biomarkers in case-control studies using can
cer patients.