Study of Blood Samples From Older Patients at High Risk of Developing Prostate Cancer and From Healthy Male Participants

DISEASE CHARACTERISTICS:

Meets 1 of the following criteria:

Patient at high risk for developing prostate cancer, due to 1 of the following risk factors:

Histologically confirmed proliferative inflammatory atrophy and/or high-grade prostatic intraepithelial neoplasia lesions accompanied by chronic intraprostatic inflammation
Abnormality observed during digital rectal exam or transrectal ultrasonography

Continued elevated age-adjusted prostate-specific antigen (PSA) meeting at least 1 of the following criteria:

Screening PSA > 4.0 ng/mL
Free PSA < 18%
PSA velocity > 0.75 ng/mL within the past year

Healthy volunteer meeting the following criteria:

Age-matched
Normal PSA level (≤ 2.1 ng/mL)
Normal digital rectal exam
No prostatitis or benign prostate hyperplasia
No urinary symptoms (diagnosed or undiagnosed)
No diagnosis of cancer

PATIENT CHARACTERISTICS:

Patients and healthy controls:

No chronic inflammatory conditions, especially those for which regular use of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory medications (NSAIDs) is prescribed/recommended, including any of the following:

Coronary heart disease
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD)
Psoriasis
Pelvic inflammatory disease
Multiple sclerosis
Arthritis
Lupus
Hashimoto thyroiditis
Inflammatory bowel disease (i.e., ulcerative colitis or Crohn disease)

PRIOR CONCURRENT THERAPY:

No prior radiotherapy or surgery to the prostate (healthy controls)