Finasteride, prostate cancer, and weight gain: Evidence for genetic or environmental factors that affect cancer outcomes during finasteride treatment
Abstract
OBJECTIVE: Finasteride affects both prostate cancer risk and body weight. We examined whether, during 7 years of finasteride treatment, the magnitude of weight change was associated with the diagnosis of no, low‐, or high‐grade cancer. METHODS: Data are from 10,057 participants in Prostate Cancer Prevention Trial (PCPT), a randomized trial of finasteride for primary prevention of prostate cancer. Mixed linear models were used to calculate percentage change in weight per year, controlling for demographic and health‐related covariates. RESULTS: Weight gain was modestly lower in the finasteride compared to placebo arms (0.14 vs. 0.16% per year, P < 0.025). On the placebo arm, there was no association of weight gain with cancer outcomes. In the finasteride arm, annual weight gain among men without cancer was 0.14%, and among men with cancer ranged from 0.01% for those diagnosed with high‐grade cancer following a clinical indication for biopsy (P = 0.03 vs. no cancer) to 0.25% among men diagnosed with low‐grade cancer at the end of the trial with no indication for biopsy (P = 0.002 vs. no cancer). CONCLUSIONS: In finasteride‐treated men, there are significant associations between prostate cancer outcomes and weight gain, which suggest that there are common or closely related individual‐level factors that affect both treatment responses. This supports the hypothesis that there are genetic characteristics and/or environmental exposures that affect finasteride outcomes which, when identified, could be used to target men most likely to benefit from finasteride treatment. Prostate 68: 281–286, 2008. © 2007 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
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There is an absence of weight gain in patients with prostate cancer treated with the 5αR inhibitor finasteride.
“the absence of weight gain in patients with prostate cancer treated with the 5αR inhibitor, finasteride.”
From The role of the androgen receptor in the pathogenesis of obesity and its utility as a target for obesity treatments (2022) · cites this paper as [169]
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- Authors
- Song, Y., Tangen, C., Goodman, P., Parnes, H. L., Lucia, M. S., Thompson, I. M., & Kristal, A. R.
- Affiliations
- Fred Hutch Cancer Center (US)
- National Cancer Institute (US)
- University of Colorado Health (US)
- The University of Texas at San Antonio Health Science Center (US)
- University of Washington (US)
- Corresponding author
- Kristal, Alan R.
- ORCID
- Venue
- The Prostate
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 2007-12-28
- Volume
- 68
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 281-286
- ISSN
- 0270-4137 (ISSN-L)
- 1097-0045
- OpenAlex
- W2078464484
- Cited by
- 8
- References
- 16
- Citations by year
- 2025: 1 · 2023: 1 · 2022: 1 · 2016: 1 · 2015: 1 · 2012: 1
- FWCI
- 0.58
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- The Prostate (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- National Cancer Institute (CA108964, CA 37429, U10CA037429, P01CA108964)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Pulmonary and Respiratory Medicine › Prostate Cancer Treatment and Research
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Pulmonary and Respiratory Medicine › Prostate Cancer Diagnosis and Treatment
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Urology › Urinary Bladder and Prostate Research
- Keywords
- finasteride, prostate cancer, weight gain, weight change, tumor grade, Prostate Cancer Prevention Trial, genetic susceptibility, environmental exposure, treatment response, prostate cancer prevention
- MeSH terms
- Aged, Biopsy, Enzyme Inhibitors, Humans, Male, Middle Aged, Prostatic Neoplasms, Weight Gain, Linear Models, Treatment Outcome, Finasteride
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