High animal fat intake enhances prostate cancer progression and reduces glutathione peroxidase 3 expression in early stages of TRAMP mice

BACKGROUND Prostate cancer is the most frequently diagnosed cancer in Western men, and more men have been diagnosed at younger ages in recent years. A high‐fat Western‐style diet is a known risk factor for prostate cancer and increases oxidative stress. METHODS We evaluated the association between dietary animal fat and expression of antioxidant enzymes, particularly glutathione peroxidase 3 (GPx3), in the early stages of transgenic adenocarcinoma of the mouse prostate (TRAMP) mice. Six‐week‐old male nontransgenic and TRAMP mice were placed on high animal fat (45% Kcal fat) or control (10% Kcal fat) diets and sacrificed after 5 or 10 weeks. RESULTS The histopathological score increased with age and high‐fat diet consumption. The histopathological scores in dorsal and lateral lobes increased in the 10‐week high‐fat diet group (6.2 ± 0.2 and 6.2 ± 0.4, respectively) versus the 10‐week control diet group (5.3 ± 0.3 and 5.2 ± 0.2, respectively). GPx3 decreased both at the mRNA and protein levels in mouse prostate. GPx3 mRNA expression decreased (∼36.27% and ∼23.91%, respectively) in the anterior and dorsolateral prostate of TRAMP mice fed a high‐fat diet compared to TRAMP mice fed a control diet. Cholesterol treatment increased PC‐3 human prostate cancer cell proliferation, decreased GPx3 mRNA and protein levels, and increased H2O2 levels in culture medium. Moreover, increasing GPx3 mRNA expression by troglitazone in PC‐3 cells decreased cell proliferation and lowered H2O2 levels. CONCLUSIONS Dietary fat enhances prostate cancer progression, possibly by suppressing GPx3 expression and increasing proliferation of prostate intraepithelial neoplasia (PIN) epithelial cells. Prostate 74: 1266–1277, 2014. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.