Research Article Blood Level Omega-3 Fatty Acids as Risk Determinant Molecular Biomarker for Prostate Cancer

Copyright © 2013 Mishell Kris Sorongon-Legaspi et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Previous researches involving dietarymethods have shown conflicting findings. Authors sought to assess the association of prostate cancer risk with blood levels of omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (n-3 PUFA) through ameta-analysis of human epidemiological studies in available online databases (July, 2012). After critical appraisal by two independent reviewers, Newcastle-Ottawa Quality Assessment Scale (NOQAS) was used to grade the studies. Six case control and six nested case control studies were included. Results showed nonsignificant association of overall effect estimates with total or advanced prostate cancer or high-grade tumor. High blood level of alpha-linolenic acid (ALA) had nonsignificant positive association with total prostate cancer risk. High blood level of docosapentaenoic acid (DPA) had significant negative association with total prostate cancer risk. Specific n-3 PUFA in fish oil, eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA), and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) had positive association with high-grade prostate tumor risk only after adjustment of interstudy variability. There is evidence that high blood level of DPA that is linked with reduced total prostate cancer risk and elevated blood levels of fish oils, EPA, and DHA is associated with high-grade prostate tumor, but carefu