Prevalence of Prostate Cancer in High Boron-Exposed Population: A Community-Based Study

Abstract

We investigated the possible relationship between boron exposure and prostate cancer (PCa) for men living and being employed at boron mines in villages with rich boron minerals. Out of 456 men studied, 159 were from villages with rich boron sources and boron levels in drinking water of >1 mg L(-1) and these men formed the study group, while 63 from villages with rich boron sources and boron levels in drinking water of <1 mg L(-1) were enrolled into control group 1. A further 234 subjects from other villages with no boron mines were considered as control group 2. Prostate specific antigen (PSA) levels could be obtained from a total of 423 men. Urinary boron concentration as an indicator of boron exposure in 63 subjects, prostatic volumes by transrectal ultrasonography in 39 subjects, and prostatic biopsies in 36 subjects were obtained for study and control groups. The daily boron exposure was calculated according to urinary boron levels. Although there was no significant difference among the groups in terms of total PSA levels, the number of subjects with tPSA ≥2.5 and tPSA ≥10.0 ng dL(-1) prostatic volumes in men whose prostates were biopsied (p < 0.012) was significantly lower in the study group as compared with those in the control group 2. These results suggested that high exposure to boron might have an implication within the prostatic cellular processes related to hyperplasia and carcinogenesis, even though we did not find a statistically significant association between PCa and boron exposure.

Prostatic Tissue Levels of 43 Trace Elements in Patients with Prostate Adenocarcinoma

“…On the other hand, findings of this study documented fact that the adenocarcinoma of human prostate accumulates high levels of many trace elements including Al, B, Be, Bi, Cr, Fe, Hg, Ni, Sn, Th, and Zr. Genotoxicity and carcinogenicity of these elements are well known (Anghileri et al, 2000;Gordon & Bowser, 2003;Crespo-López et al, 2009;Bian et al, 2011;Gonzalez-Vasconcellos et al, 2011;Müezzinoğlu et al, 2011;Sappino et al, 2012;Helmig et al, 2013;Adámik et al, 2015;Farasani & Darbre, 2015). On the other hand, compared to human body soft tissues, the normal prostate of young adults has higher levels of many trace elements, including Zn (V. Zaichick & S. Zaichick, 2013, 2013a, 2013b, 2013c, 2014d.…”

Antioxidants therapy: An alternative for androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) to decrease prostate-specific antigen (PSA) level

“…Moreover, it was reported that supplementation of a combination of vitamin E, selenium, vitamin C and coenzyme-Q10 does not affect serum level of PSA or hormone levels in patients with hormonally untreated carcinoma of the prostate [65]. Recently, suggest that men with high intake of 6 mg boron/d had significantly smaller prostates [66].…”

“…There is no strong evidence for a beneficial effect of selenium, vitamin C, alpha-tocopherol or beta-carotene, whereas lycopene, gammatocopherol appears to be negatively associated with risk of the disease and tea and coffee appear to offer protection against advanced prostate cancer [20]. Among the nutrients, the association of dietary boron and boron compounds with inhibition of activity of prostate-specific antigen and prostate cancer risk has been reported [21][22][23][24][25][26].…”

Boric acid: a simple molecule of physiologic, therapeutic and prebiotic significance

“…Studies have shown that it may have a protective role with regard to both prostate and breast cancer [24][25][26]. At a cellular level, the molecular effects of boric acid lead to an inhibition of protein synthesis, the activation of MAP kinase cascades, an inhibition of cell cycle progression and morphological changes that add up to significant antiproliferative action on certain cancer cell lines [27].…”