Purpose: Recent reports suggest a possible association of the clinical aggressiveness of prostate cancer with low serum testosterone, and high serum levels of lutenizing hormone (LH) and/or follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH). This hypothesis was tested in the current study.
Materials and methods: Serum levels of testosterone, LH, FSH, estradiol and sex hormone-binding globulin were determined as well as the calculated ratio of testosterone-to-sex hormonebinding globulin in 370 patients with newly diagnosed, stages T1 to T3 pN0M0 prostate cancer. The results were related to T category, Gleason score and serum prostate specific antigen (PSA).
Results: No statistically significant association was found for the serum levels of testosterone, LH, FSH, estradiol, sex hormone-binding globulin or the testosterone-to-sex hormone-binding globulin ratio with T category, Gleason score or PSA. In contrast to expectations, serum testosterone values within the lowest quartile were not associated with elevated LH. Of the 370 patients 17 (5%) had serum testosterone below the normal range (8 nmol./l. or less) and only 3 of these 17 showed elevated LH levels.
Conclusions: Serum levels reflecting the pituitary-gonadal axis at diagnosis are not associated with clinically used measures of tumor aggressiveness (T category, Gleason score or PSA) in patients with newly diagnosed T1 to T3 pN0M0 prostate cancer.