Dietary lycopene intake and risk of prostate cancer defined by ERG protein expression

• Published in: The American journal of clinical nutrition 2016-03, Vol.103 (3), p.851-860
• Main Authors: Graff, Rebecca E, Pettersson, Andreas, Lis, Rosina T, Ahearn, Thomas U, Markt, Sarah C, Wilson, Kathryn M, Rider, Jennifer R, Fiorentino, Michelangelo, Finn, Stephen, Kenfield, Stacey A, Loda, Massimo, Giovannucci, Edward L, Rosner, Bernard, Mucci, Lorelei A
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adult; Antineoplastic Agents, Phytogenic - therapeutic use; Antioxidants - therapeutic use; Carotenoids - therapeutic use; Diet; Feeding Behavior; Humans; Lycopene; Lycopersicon esculentum; Male; Medicin och hälsovetenskap; Middle Aged; Oncogene Proteins, Fusion - metabolism; Phytochemicals; Plant Extracts - therapeutic use; Probability; Prostate cancer; Prostatic Neoplasms - metabolism; Prostatic Neoplasms - prevention & control; Protein expression; Retroviridae; Risk factors; Solanum lycopersicum - chemistry; Trans-Activators - metabolism; Transcriptional Regulator ERG
• ISSN: 0002-9165; 1938-3207; 1938-3207
• DOI: 10.3945/ajcn.115.118703

There is limited evidence that supports etiologically distinct molecular subtypes of prostate cancer, the identification of which may improve prevention. Given their antioxidant properties, we hypothesized that lycopene and tomato sauce may be especially protective against diseases harboring the common gene fusion transmembrane protease, serine 2 (TMPRSS2):v-ets avian erythroblastosis virus E26 oncogene homolog (ERG). We aimed to examine associations between estimated lycopene and tomato sauce intake and the risk of prostate cancer defined by ERG protein expression subtype. Our study population consisted of a prospective cohort of 46,719 men from the Health Professionals Follow-Up Study. TMPRSS2:ERG was assessed by ERG immunohistochemistry on tumor tissue microarrays constructed from radical prostatectomy specimens. We used multivariable competing risk models to calculate HRs and 95% CIs for the risk of ERG-positive and, separately, ERG-negative disease. We implemented inverse probability weighting to account for evaluating ERG status only in surgically treated cases. During 23 y of follow-up, 5543 men were diagnosed with prostate cancer, among whom 884 were assayed for ERG (426 ERG-positive). With inclusion of only the latter cases, increasing cumulative average tomato sauce intake was associated with a decreased risk of prostate cancer overall (≥2 servings/wk compared with