RATIONALE: Chemoprevention therapy is the use of certain substances to try to prevent the development or recurrence of cancer. The dietary supplement lycopene may prevent the development of prostate cancer.

PURPOSE: This phase I trial is studying the side effects and best dose of lycopene in preventing prostate cancer in healthy participants.

OBJECTIVES:

• Determine the toxicity and safety of lycopene supplementation as chemoprevention for prostate cancer in healthy participants.
• Determine the pharmacokinetics of this agent in these participants.
• Determine the dose range of this agent in these participants.

OUTLINE: This is a dose-escalation study.

Participants ingest a single-dose of oral lycopene over a maximum of 15 minutes on day 1.

Cohorts of 5 participants receive escalating doses of lycopene until the maximum tolerated dose (MTD) is determined. The MTD is defined as the dose preceding that at which 2 of 5 participants experience dose-limiting toxicity.

Participants are evaluated periodically for 28 days.

PROJECTED ACCRUAL: A total of 25 participants will be accrued for this study.

DISEASE CHARACTERISTICS:

• Healthy participants in good medical condition

  • No chronic medical conditions

  • No regular use of prescription medications

  • No evidence of psychiatric disorder

  • Non-smoker

    • Former smokers allowed provided they have not smoked within the past 3 months

  • No history of alcohol abuse

• Serum lycopene concentration < 700 nM

PATIENT CHARACTERISTICS:

Age

• 18 to 45

Performance status

• Karnofsky 100%

Life expectancy

• Not specified

Hematopoietic

• Hemoglobin ≥ 13.0 g/dL
• WBC ≥ 4,000/mm^3
• Platelet count 150,000-400,000/mm^3

Hepatic

• AST and ALT ≤ 75 U/L
• Bilirubin ≤ 2.0 mg/dL
• No liver disease

Renal

• Creatinine ≤ 1.5 mg/dL
• No renal disease

Cardiovascular

• No cardiovascular disease
• No abnormal EKG

Other

• Within 15% of ideal body weight
• No history of gastrointestinal malabsorption or other condition that would preclude drug absorption
• No alcohol consumption within the past 72 hours
• No allergy to tomato-based products
• No history of cancer
• No diabetes mellitus
• No other illness that would preclude study participation

PRIOR CONCURRENT THERAPY:

Biologic therapy

• Not specified

Chemotherapy

• Not specified

Endocrine therapy

• Not specified

Radiotherapy

• Not specified

Surgery

• Not specified

Other

• At least 4 weeks since prior experimental drugs
• More than 14 days since prior prescription drugs
• No concurrent participation in another experimental trial
• No concurrent prescription drugs