Applied Medical Research. 2020;
7(2):(84-176)
A Systematic Review of the Phosphorus Content of the Normal Human Prostate Gland
Vladimir Zaichick
Abstract
The prostate gland is subject to various disorders. The etiology and pathogenesis of these
diseases are not well understood. Moreover, despite technological advancements, the
differential diagnosis of prostate disorders has become progressively more complex and
controversial. It was suggested that the P level in prostatic tissue plays an important role in
prostatic carcinogenesis and its measurement may be useful as a cancer biomarker. These
suggestions promoted more detailed studies of the P content in the prostatic tissue of
healthy subjects. The present study evaluated by systematic analysis the published data for
P content analyzed in prostatic tissue of “normal” glands. This evaluation reviewed 1919
studies, all of which were published in the years from 1921 to 2020 and were located by
searching the databases Scopus, PubMed, MEDLINE, ELSEVIER-EMBASE, Cochrane Library,
and the Web of Science. The articles were analyzed and “Median of Means” and “Range
of Means” were used to examine heterogeneity of the measured P content in prostates of
apparently healthy men. The objective analysis was performed on data from the 27 studies,
which included 974 subjects. It was found that the range of means of prostatic P content
reported in the literature for “normal” gland varies widely from 350 mg/kg to 2460 mg/kg
with median of means 1295 mg/kg on a wet mass basis. The study has demonstrated that
levels of P in “normal” prostates likely depends on androgen levels, dietary P intake, and
relative amounts of different types of prostatic tissue studied, and does not depend on age
and zone of human prostate sampled,. Finally, because of small sample size and high data
heterogeneity, we recommend other primary studies be performed