Prediagnostic Serum Organochlorine Concentrations and Metastatic Prostate Cancer: A Nested Case–Control Study in the Norwegian Janus Serum Bank Cohort

• Authors: Stella Koutros, National Institutes of Health; Hilde Langseth, Institute of Population-Based Cancer Research; Tom K. Grimsrud, Emory University; Dana Barr, Emory University; Roel Vermeulen, Utrecht University; Lützen Portengen, Utrecht University; Sholom Wacholder, National Institutes of Health; Laura E. Beane Freeman, National Institutes of Health; Aaron Blair, National Institutes of Health; Richard B. Hayes, New York University School of Medicine; Nathaniel Rothman, National Institutes of Health; Lawrence S. Engel, UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health
• Journal Title: Environmental Health Perspectives
• Publisher: National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) | 2015-03-03
• Type of Work: Article | Final Publisher PDF
• Publisher DOI: http://doi.org/10.1289/ehp.1408245
• Subjects: Environmental Sciences; Health Sciences, Epidemiology

Abstract

Organochlorine (OC) insecticides and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) have been shown to have estrogenic, antiestrogenic, or antiandrogenic properties; as a result, the impact of exposure to these compounds and risk of hormonal cancers, such as prostate cancer, is a concern. Objectives We conducted a nested case–control study, using prospectively collected serum, to estimate associations between OC exposures and metastatic prostate cancer in a population-based cohort from Norway. Methods Sera from 150 cases and 314 controls matched on date of blood draw, age at blood draw, and region was used to determine concentrations of 11 OC pesticide metabolites and 34 PCB congeners. Odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (95% CIs) for quartiles of lipid-corrected metabolite levels were calculated using conditional logistic regression. Results Metastatic prostate cancer was two times as likely among men with serum concentrations of oxychlordane in the highest quartile compared with those in the lowest quartile (OR = 2.03; 95% CI: 1.03, 4.03; p-trend 0.05). Elevated but nonsignificant ORs were estimated for the highest versus lowest quartile of heptachlor epoxide, HCB, and mirex, although these exposures were correlated with oxychlordane. Findings for specific PCB congeners showed a significant inverse association between natural log–transformed lipid-adjusted PCB 44 and metastatic prostate cancer (OR = 0.74; 95% CI: 0.56, 0.97; p-trend = 0.02). Conclusions Our study highlights the importance of estimating associations with specific OC chemicals and suggests a possible role of OC insecticides and PCBs in the etiology of metastatic prostate cancer.