Skip to main content
Journal of the National Medical Association logoLink to Journal of the National Medical Association
. 2004 May;96(5):641–649.

Serum ferritin levels and transferrin saturation in men with prostate cancer.

Solo R Kuvibidila 1, Tony Gauthier 1, Walter Rayford 1
PMCID: PMC2640669  PMID: 15160979

Abstract

Elevated body iron stores (serum ferritin >300 microg/L, transferrin saturation TS >50%) are associated with increased risk of liver and lung cancers. To determine whether such association also exists for prostate cancer (PC), we measured serum ferritin, serum iron, total iron-binding capacity (TIBC), and TS in serum samples from 34 men with newly diagnosed, untreated PC and 84 healthy men, ranging in age from 49-78 years. In contrast with other malignancies, men with PC had significantly lower mean concentrations of serum ferritin (156 microg/L) and TS (24.35%) than those without PC (ferritin, 245 microg/L; TS, 31.98%) (p<0.05). The 95% confidence intervals for ferritin were 109-203 microg/L and 205-286 microg/L, and those for TS were 20.29-28.4% and 28.35-35.61% for men with and without PC, respectively. Significant differences were observed between both groups in the distribution of serum ferritin (<100, 101-300, >300 microg/L) and TS (<16, 16-50, >50%) (p<0.05). A lower percentage of cases than of controls had serum ferritin (17.6% versus 29.8%) and TS (5.9% versus 14.7%) above normal. These differences persisted when the analysis was limited to African-American men (31 cases and 52 controls). Data suggest that elevated body iron stores are less common in men with PC compared to those without PC.

Full text

PDF
641

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Abdalla I., Ray P., Vaida F., Vijayakumar S. Racial differences in prostate-specific antigen levels and prostate-specific antigen densities in patients with prostate cancer. Am J Clin Oncol. 1999 Dec;22(6):537–541. doi: 10.1097/00000421-199912000-00001. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Akiba S., Neriishi K., Blot W. J., Kabuto M., Stevens R. G., Kato H., Land C. E. Serum ferritin and stomach cancer risk among a Japanese population. Cancer. 1991 Mar 15;67(6):1707–1712. doi: 10.1002/1097-0142(19910315)67:6<1707::aid-cncr2820670638>3.0.co;2-c. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Aprikian A. G., Bazinet M., Plante M., Meshref A., Trudel C., Aronson S., Nachabe M., Péloquin F., Déssureault J., Narod S. Family history and the risk of prostatic carcinoma in a high risk group of urological patients. J Urol. 1995 Aug;154(2 Pt 1):404–406. doi: 10.1097/00005392-199508000-00022. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Cook J. D., Skikne B. S. Iron deficiency: definition and diagnosis. J Intern Med. 1989 Nov;226(5):349–355. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2796.1989.tb01408.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Costello L. C., Franklin R. B., Narayan P. Citrate in the diagnosis of prostate cancer. Prostate. 1999 Feb 15;38(3):237–245. doi: 10.1002/(sici)1097-0045(19990215)38:3<237::aid-pros8>3.0.co;2-o. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Custer E. M., Finch C. A., Sobel R. E., Zettner A. Population norms for serum ferritin. J Lab Clin Med. 1995 Jul;126(1):88–94. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Engler R. Protéines de la réaction inflammatoire. Notion de profil protéique. Pediatrie. 1984 Jul-Aug;39(5):339–344. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Halliwell B., Gutteridge J. M. Oxygen free radicals and iron in relation to biology and medicine: some problems and concepts. Arch Biochem Biophys. 1986 May 1;246(2):501–514. doi: 10.1016/0003-9861(86)90305-x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Hann H. W., Stahlhut M. W., Blumberg B. S. Iron nutrition and tumor growth: decreased tumor growth in iron-deficient mice. Cancer Res. 1988 Aug 1;48(15):4168–4170. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Hann H. W., Stahlhut M. W., Hann C. L. Effect of iron and desferoxamine on cell growth and in vitro ferritin synthesis in human hepatoma cell lines. Hepatology. 1990 Apr;11(4):566–569. doi: 10.1002/hep.1840110407. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Haq R. U., Wereley J. P., Chitambar C. R. Induction of apoptosis by iron deprivation in human leukemic CCRF-CEM cells. Exp Hematol. 1995 May;23(5):428–432. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Hayes R. B., Ziegler R. G., Gridley G., Swanson C., Greenberg R. S., Swanson G. M., Schoenberg J. B., Silverman D. T., Brown L. M., Pottern L. M. Dietary factors and risks for prostate cancer among blacks and whites in the United States. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev. 1999 Jan;8(1):25–34. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Jemal Ahmedin, Murray Taylor, Samuels Alicia, Ghafoor Asma, Ward Elizabeth, Thun Michael J. Cancer statistics, 2003. CA Cancer J Clin. 2003 Jan-Feb;53(1):5–26. doi: 10.3322/canjclin.53.1.5. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. Knekt P., Reunanen A., Takkunen H., Aromaa A., Heliövaara M., Hakulinen T. Body iron stores and risk of cancer. Int J Cancer. 1994 Feb 1;56(3):379–382. doi: 10.1002/ijc.2910560315. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  15. Lederman H. M., Cohen A., Lee J. W., Freedman M. H., Gelfand E. W. Deferoxamine: a reversible S-phase inhibitor of human lymphocyte proliferation. Blood. 1984 Sep;64(3):748–753. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  16. Levine R. L., Wilchinsky M. Adenocarcinoma of the prostate: a comparison of the disease in blacks versus whites. J Urol. 1979 Jun;121(6):761–762. doi: 10.1016/s0022-5347(17)56981-5. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  17. Liang J. Y., Liu Y. Y., Zou J., Franklin R. B., Costello L. C., Feng P. Inhibitory effect of zinc on human prostatic carcinoma cell growth. Prostate. 1999 Aug 1;40(3):200–207. doi: 10.1002/(sici)1097-0045(19990801)40:3<200::aid-pros8>3.0.co;2-3. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  18. Lipschitz D. A., Cook J. D., Finch C. A. A clinical evaluation of serum ferritin as an index of iron stores. N Engl J Med. 1974 May 30;290(22):1213–1216. doi: 10.1056/NEJM197405302902201. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  19. Looker A. C., Dallman P. R., Carroll M. D., Gunter E. W., Johnson C. L. Prevalence of iron deficiency in the United States. JAMA. 1997 Mar 26;277(12):973–976. doi: 10.1001/jama.1997.03540360041028. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  20. Matzner Y., Konijn A. M., Hershko C. Serum ferritin in hematologic malignancies. Am J Hematol. 1980;9(1):13–22. doi: 10.1002/ajh.2830090103. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  21. Nomura A., Chyou P. H., Stemmermann G. N. Association of serum ferritin levels with the risk of stomach cancer. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev. 1992 Nov-Dec;1(7):547–550. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  22. Powell L. W., Halliday J. W. Serum ferritin levels and hepatocellular carcinoma: the cart or the horse? Hepatology. 1990 Apr;11(4):706–707. doi: 10.1002/hep.1840110429. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  23. Prieto J., Barry M., Sherlock S. Serum ferritin in patients with iron overload and with acute and chronic liver diseases. Gastroenterology. 1975 Mar;68(3):525–533. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  24. Sawa T., Akaike T., Kida K., Fukushima Y., Takagi K., Maeda H. Lipid peroxyl radicals from oxidized oils and heme-iron: implication of a high-fat diet in colon carcinogenesis. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev. 1998 Nov;7(11):1007–1012. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  25. Siegers C. P., Bumann D., Baretton G., Younes M. Dietary iron enhances the tumor rate in dimethylhydrazine-induced colon carcinogenesis in mice. Cancer Lett. 1988 Aug 30;41(3):251–256. doi: 10.1016/0304-3835(88)90285-6. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  26. Spear A. T., Sherman A. R. Iron deficiency alters DMBA-induced tumor burden and natural killer cell cytotoxicity in rats. J Nutr. 1992 Jan;122(1):46–55. doi: 10.1093/jn/122.1.46. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  27. Stevens R. G., Graubard B. I., Micozzi M. S., Neriishi K., Blumberg B. S. Moderate elevation of body iron level and increased risk of cancer occurrence and death. Int J Cancer. 1994 Feb 1;56(3):364–369. doi: 10.1002/ijc.2910560312. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  28. Stevens R. G., Jones D. Y., Micozzi M. S., Taylor P. R. Body iron stores and the risk of cancer. N Engl J Med. 1988 Oct 20;319(16):1047–1052. doi: 10.1056/NEJM198810203191603. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  29. Thompson I. M., Coltman C. A., Jr, Crowley J. Chemoprevention of prostate cancer: the Prostate Cancer Prevention Trial. Prostate. 1997 Nov 1;33(3):217–221. doi: 10.1002/(sici)1097-0045(19971101)33:3<217::aid-pros11>3.0.co;2-n. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  30. Walker A. R., Segal I. Iron overload in Sub-Saharan Africa: to what extent is it a public health problem? Br J Nutr. 1999 Jun;81(6):427–434. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  31. Whittemore A. S., Kolonel L. N., Wu A. H., John E. M., Gallagher R. P., Howe G. R., Burch J. D., Hankin J., Dreon D. M., West D. W. Prostate cancer in relation to diet, physical activity, and body size in blacks, whites, and Asians in the United States and Canada. J Natl Cancer Inst. 1995 May 3;87(9):652–661. doi: 10.1093/jnci/87.9.652. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  32. Wurzelmann J. I., Silver A., Schreinemachers D. M., Sandler R. S., Everson R. B. Iron intake and the risk of colorectal cancer. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev. 1996 Jul;5(7):503–507. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  33. Zacharski L. R., Ornstein D. L., Woloshin S., Schwartz L. M. Association of age, sex, and race with body iron stores in adults: analysis of NHANES III data. Am Heart J. 2000 Jul;140(1):98–104. doi: 10.1067/mhj.2000.106646. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from Journal of the National Medical Association are provided here courtesy of National Medical Association

RESOURCES