Sir,
We thank Cheema and Sharif (2011) for their interest in our paper. We agree that the strength of our study lies in its size, and therefore, we have been able to make reliable estimates of the association between digit ratio and prostate cancer risk. Epidemiological studies are able to estimate such relationships, but they are more limited in their ability to explain why such relationships occur, particularly in terms of the underlying biology as other possible explanations of any risks observed may exist. As such, the main purpose of our paper was to estimate the association between digit ratio and prostate cancer risk per se given the previously reported associations seen in a number of other cancers and indeed other conditions/traits. The explanation is that such risk may be driven by an underlying relationship with pre-natal hormone levels remains speculative, but would be in keeping with current thinking on the aetiology of prostate cancer. The evidence for a link between pre-natal hormones and digit ratio is suggested by McIntyre (2006) and Breedlove (2010).
In terms of any changes in the ratio of digit lengths with age or other factors, we are unaware of any data other than that of McIntyre et al (2005) and Trivers et al (2006) that suggest that it is generally longitudinally stable, and given that further collection of longer-term information on this would require much time and effort, we remain happy to present our main finding on the association to encourage other groups to study whether such a relationship is seen in other studies, given the interest in this externally available trait.
If our observations are replicated, the finding may further stimulate useful insights into the biology of prostate cancer risk and/or have clinical utility.
Change history
29 March 2012
This paper was modified 12 months after initial publication to switch to Creative Commons licence terms, as noted at publication
References
Breedlove SM (2010) Minireview: organizational hypothesis: instances of the fingerpost. Endocrinology 151: 4116–4122
Cheema M, Sharif A (2011) Comment on ‘Hand pattern indicates risk of prostate cancer’. Br J Cancer 105: 466
McIntyre MH (2006) The use of digit ratios as markers for perinatal androgen action. Reprod Biol Endocrinol 4: 10
McIntyre MH, Ellison PT, Lieberman DE, Demerath E, Towne B (2005) The development of sex differences in digital formula from infancy in the Fels Longitudinal Study. Proc Biol Sci 272: 1473–1479
Trivers R, Manning J, Jacobson A (2006) A longitudinal study of digit ratio (2D:4D) and other finger ratios in Jamaican children. Horm Behav 49: 150–156
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Consortia
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
From twelve months after its original publication, this work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/
About this article
Cite this article
Rahman, A., Lophatananon, A., Stewart-Brown, S. et al. Reply: ‘Hand pattern indicates risk of prostate cancer’. Br J Cancer 105, 467 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1038/bjc.2011.233
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/bjc.2011.233