Prostate-specific antigen and androgens in African-American and white normal subjects and prostate cancer patients

Prostate cancer in African Americans is more aggressive and common than in any other racial group. An endocrine mechanism has been proposed to account for this racial difference. However, androgen levels in African-American e lderly normal subjects and prostate cancer patients have been insufficientl y studied. Because the Albert Einstein Medical Center (AEMC) has a large Af rican-American population, we could contribute racial data from which obser vations could be made within this study and in past and future studies. Blood from 38 screened men (mean age 65) with prostate-specific antigen (PS A) less than 4 ng/mL and normal rectal examination seen at the AEMC Cancer Center was studied using standard radioimmunoassays. The blood samples also served as our control. Our experimental group consisted of 51 prostate can cer patients (mean age 71 years), all of whom had nonmetastatic prostate ca ncer. Subjects were categorized by cancer status, race, and age group. In our screened subjects, PSA, testosterone, and dihydrotestosterone were n ot higher in African Americans than in whites. Furthermore, our prostate ca ncer patients demonstrated no significant racial variation for PSA, testost erone, and dihydrotestosterone. Our data also did not indicate any correlat ion between PSA and androgen levels in our cancer patients. In our population of elderly men, no racial differences in androgen levels were found. Androgen levels did not correlate with PSA levels in prostate c ancer patients.