Testosterone and prostate cancer risk

02 November 2009

We recently received an enquiry from a man who had previously received the male hormone testosterone as a treatment for a disease and has now been diagnosed with prostate cancer.

His concern was whether that treatment could have caused his prostate cancer.

We know that testosterone is linked to prostate cancer;  hormone therapy aims to reduce or eliminate the action of the male hormone testosterone, for example. 

However, we don't yet know the exact nature of the link.  A recent summary of the evidence by the US National Cancer Institute shows that there is conflicting evidence of a link between testosterone levels and risk of prostate cancer.  They concluded that there is no evidence for using testosterone levels in the blood as a basis for estimating a person's risk of getting prostate cancer.

We also note a review by the UK Centre for Reviews and Dissemination, which looked at the risk of getting prostate cancer after having received testosterone treatment.  They found no evidence of increased risk of prostate cancer after testosterone treatment for hypogonadism.

Page last edited: 02 October 2011