University of Bristol

About University of Bristol

Recent Publications

Published Abstracts

Conference Presentations

The Bristol ProMPT group: Studies of the aetiology, improved detection and progression of prostate cancer. Departments of Social Medicine and Surgery, University of Bristol. Principal Investigators: Jenny Donovan, Jeff Holly, Steven Oliver (now York), David Gunnell, Stephen Frankel. Collaborators: George Davey Smith, Yoav Ben-Shlomo, Andrew Ness.

• A collaboration between epidemiologists, health services researchers and molecular biologists, which enables study of the implications of molecular factors in prostate cancer to be rapidly assessed in large population-based studies.

• Hosts a number of large historical and current population cohorts

• Co-ordinating centre for the ProtecT (Prostate cancer testing for cancer and Treatment) study, a collaboration between the Universities of Sheffield, Bristol and Cambridge in which 120,000 men aged 50-69 years are being tested for prostate cancer and on whom serum and whole blood samples are being stored for future research, particularly through ProMPT. It is expected that ~3,000 men will be found to have prostate cancer and these will be followed up for 10-15 years.

• Focus on insulin-like growth factors (IGFs) in the development, early detection and progression of prostate cancer. (Figure 1)
  
  1st epidemiological study to specifically examine associations between the IGF-axis and the risk of prostate cancer detected through PSA-based screening. We found that raised levels of IGF-I and IGF-II are associated with a two fold increased risk of prostate cancer (Figure 2). The IGF axis may mediate the link between diet and prostate cancer found in a number of studies. Raised levels of IGF-I were associated with high milk intake but low tomato consumption.

• We are investigating adult diet in the progression of screen-detected prostate cancer. Using diet diaries collected from approximately 20,000 middle-aged men participating in the ProtecT study we are examining the role of specific aspects of diet in influencing both disease risk, and the subsequent natural history of screen-detected cancer.

• Our planned future work will further investigate the aetiology of prostate cancer by identifying lifecourse risk factors for both incidence and progression and their interaction genes. Using this knowledge we plan to conduct trials of primary and secondary prevention, including the development of novel IGF-based interventions.