Demetrius Albanes

M.D.

National Cancer Institute

Senior Investigator

PLCO (Learn more about this study)

2016-0014

Jul 6, 2016

Serum metabolomic profiling of prostate cancer risk in black men

Metabolomics is a robust bioanalytic method that involves the measurement and analysis of small molecular weight biochemicals from blood and other tissues. The product is a comprehensive library of metabolites that can help identify novel pathways which influence the risk of disease, with the potential of becoming targets for future therapeutic interventions. We have used metabolomics to identify potential risk for the development of diseases, including breast, colon, and prostate cancers. In a recent analysis of prostate cancer risk among men of European ancestry within the Alpha-Tocopherol, Beta-Carotene Cancer Prevention Study, measured metabolites were shown to be differentially associated with the risk of overall, aggressive, and non-aggressive prostate cancer. This study represented an agnostic approach, and discovered several lipid and energy metabolites associated with aggressive prostate cancer. Whether these metabolite associations also contribute to prostate cancer risk in black men is of interest given the well-documented higher rate of aggressive disease and mortality in black men relative to white men. An investigation into the metabolomic profile of black men may provide a biochemical basis for some of the black-white differences in trends and associations of prostate cancer risk.
We propose to build on a prior nested case-control study of black men within PLCO (EEMS 2014-00020), using pre-diagnostic serum samples (150 ul each) from existing and new incident prostate cancer cases in black men and their 1:1 matched controls. Serum samples will be measured by Metabolon Inc., using a non-targeted approach to detect and identify biochemical metabolites in circulation. Metabolon utilizes an ultrahigh performance liquid chromatography/mass spectroscopy (UHPLC/MS) and gas chromatography/mass spectroscopy (GC/MS) platform. This study has the potential to provide a more thorough and detailed understanding of prostate cancer risk in black men by allowing us to identify groups of metabolites that may be connected with known and novel risk factors and biological pathways related to risk in this population. Such an analysis has not previously been conducted in black men, and we have the potential to contribute to the field and help promote the development of new questions and research directions.