Molecular pathogenesis and prevention of prostate cancer

Studies in laboratory animals indicate inhibition of chemically-induced carcinoma by cystine-rich diets enhancing the cysteine-GSH antioxidant system. The progression of carcinoma of the prostate is also inhibited by these diets, which were later found to raise the level of GSH in the prostate epithelium of man. New data presented at the July 13, 2003 meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research indicates that higher levels of total cysteine in plasma may predict a reduced risk for breast cancer. This prospective investigation was conducted among 32,000 women in the Nurses Health study. The previously reported prostate cancer data appears then not to be strictly gender-related as the antioxidant role of the cysteine-GSH system may also apply to breast cancer prevention.