Western studies have established that men from African descent are disproportionally affected by
prostate cancer (PCa). Annual incidence rates in this population vary from 1.5 to 2 times when
compared to their counterparts from other racial groups. They also record the worse outcomes in
terms of prognosis. Additionally, with the rise of PCa in Subsaharan Africa, new cancer control
policies and programs are increasingly demanded. Understanding therefore, factors that underpin
racial inequality in distribution and especially why the disease preferentially niches in African
males can help better address PCa in both Western and Subsaharan countries. There is also the
potential to develop new therapeutic options. A genetic susceptibility was first hypothesized,
however available data suggest that they only account for less than 20% of the cases. Current
findings from epidemiological and molecular investigations suggest an important role of complex
and dynamic environmental interactions involving the different levels of calcium regulation. Using
a multi-method design, this research aims at developing an integrative mechanistic model of PCa.
We argue that given the versatile and ubiquitous role calcium plays in nutrition, physical
environment, and in key cellular processes, that mineral cation is central to prostate tumorigenesis
and in shaping its populational distribution. Thus a tree-level investigation was conducted: (i) a
critical analysis and synthesis of empirical evidence on calcium interactions with cancer
mechanisms (ii) a population-wide prospective cohort study of calcium intake patterns in a group of
Subsaharan males in Côte d’Ivoire, namely the African Prostate Cancer Study (APCS) (iii) a
proteomics research investigating the responses of prostate cancer cell lines when exposed to a
high affinity synthetic calcium binding peptide. This monograph describes the research methods,
instruments design and validation and the preliminary findings of the ongoing research, portions of
which have already been published, presented at two international cancer seminars or under review.
Findings at this stage include: mechanistic models of prostate cancer differential distribution and
outcomes, a novel calcium questionnaire specific to African diet, synthesis of a high affinity
calcium-binding peptide (Peptide#1). New concepts and constructs related to prostatic
carcinogenesis have been developed as well.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:uottawa.ca/oai:ruor.uottawa.ca:10393/40685 |
| Date | 29 June 2020 |
| Creators | Kadio, Bernard |
| Contributors | Yaya, Sanni, Basak, Ajoy |
| Publisher | Université d'Ottawa / University of Ottawa |
| Source Sets | Université d’Ottawa |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Format | application/pdf |
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