With a total of 192,280 new cases predicted for 2009, prostate cancer (PC) now accounts for 25% of all new male cancers diagnosed in the USA [1]. Furthermore, in their lifetime, one in six men will be clinically diagnosed with PC, although many more will be found to have histological evidence of PC at autopsy [2–4]. Presently, approximately one in ten men will die of PC [5, 6]. The ever-aging population and more widespread use of the blood prostate-specific antigen (PSA) test [7, 8], as well as the tendency to apply lower cut-off levels for this test [9], will further increase the diagnosis of PC [10].