Hair loss drug may lower PSA levels

Reported by Susan Aldridge, PhD, medical journalist

The hair loss drug finasteride can cause an artificial lowering of prostate specific antigen, according to a new study.
Finasteride was originally approved for the treatment of a condition of the prostate called benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH). More recently, it has also been shown to treat genetic hair loss. Both conditions are caused by the action of dihydrotestosterone, which is produced from testosterone by an enzyme called 5-alpha reductase. Finasteride works by blocking this enzyme. Lower concentrations are used to treat hair loss than are used in BPH.

Now researchers at the University of Texas Southwestern and collaborators elsewhere reveal a significant side effect to finasteride used in hair loss. It artificially lowers the levels of prostate specific antigen (PSA), the blood marker used to screen for prostate cancer. This has serious implications for the accuracy of prostate cancer screening, as many men take finasteride for hair loss. The level will need to be multiplied, say the researchers, to get a truer value. Otherwise men at risk of prostate cancer could be missed because of their artificially low PSA levels.

Source
The Lancet online 4th December 2006

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