Plasma Micronutrient Profile of Prostate Cancer Cases Is Altered Relative to Healthy Controls—Results of a Pilot Study in South Australia

SIMPLE SUMMARY: Prostate cancer remains one of the most common and fatal cancers in men. However, the nutrient deficiencies and excesses that are associated with it remain undetermined. We, therefore, investigated the concentration of micronutrients in the plasma of men diagnosed with late onset prostate cancer and compared their results to those for plasma collected from healthy age-matched controls. We found that the plasma concentrations of lutein, lycopene, α-carotene, β-carotene and selenium were significantly reduced, and the levels of iron, sulphur and calcium were significantly increased in prostate cancer cases relative to controls. Measurement of the concentration profile of these micronutrients may identify those men with a high risk of prostate cancer and inform the design of future dietary intervention studies that could reduce the risk of this insidious cancer. ABSTRACT: Emerging evidence suggests possible roles of micronutrients in cancer prevention. The study was designed to test the hypothesis that the concentration profile of plasma micronutrients (i.e., the nutriome) in prostate cancer patients is different from that of healthy controls. Plasma samples from 116 Caucasian men diagnosed with late onset of prostate cancer and 132 matched controls from the South Australian population were collected and analysed for their concentration of micronutrients. Plasma concentrations of lutein, lycopene, α-carotene and β-carotene were found to be significantly lower in prostate cancer patients (p = 0.03, 0.008, 0.002 and 0.002, respectively). Plasma levels of elements such as iron, copper, calcium and sulphur were significantly higher (p < 0.0001, <0.0001, <0.0001 and p = 0.0003, respectively) while that of selenium was significantly lower (p = 0.002) in prostate cancer patients. Higher prostate cancer risk is significantly associated with plasma levels below the median of lycopene (OR: 2.24), α-carotene (OR: 2.13), β-carotene (OR: 1.97) and high levels above the median of iron (OR: 2.31), calcium (OR: 4.35) and sulphur (OR: 2.39). The results of this study suggest that the plasma nutriome could be a useful diagnostic of prostate cancer risk.