Hormonal markers of aging in men with laryngeal carcinoma

Cancer of the larynx, a frequent neoplasm in older people, occurs several times more often in men than in women. Surprisingly, the highest incidence of the disease is observed in the period in which concentrations of a number of hormones (eg, androgens, growth hormone) decrease. Our objective was to look for differences in hormonal markers of aging between men with laryngeal carcinoma and healthy control subjects.

Seventy-eight men with cancer of the larynx and 51 healthy age-matched controls were recruited for the study. In each of the examined men, serum concentrations of total testosterone, free testosterone, dihydrotestosterone, dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate, steroid-hormone binding globulin, estradiol, and insulin-like growth factor type 1 (IGF-1) were determined.

Men with laryngeal carcinoma had lower serum concentrations of IGF-1 (136 +/- 75 vs 318 +/- 141 ng/mL, p < .000001), lower free testosterone (11.95 +/- 5.38 vs 15.48 +/- 4.96 pg/mL, p < .001), and lower dihydrotestosterone/total testosterone ratio (0.07 +/- 0.06 vs 0.09 +/- 0.04, p < .05) than healthy controls had.

Somatopause seems to be more evident in men with laryngeal carcinoma than in age-matched controls. In our observation, low concentration of IGF-1 predicted the presence of laryngeal carcinoma more than low concentration of free testosterone did.