Study of Blood Samples From Older Patients at High Risk of Developing Prostate Cancer and From Healthy Male Participants

DISEASE CHARACTERISTICS: * Meets 1 of the following criteria: * Patient at high risk for developing prostate cancer, due to 1 of the following risk factors: * Histologically confirmed proliferative inflammatory atrophy and/or high-grade prostatic intraepithelial neoplasia lesions accompanied by chronic intraprostatic inflammation * Abnormality observed during digital rectal exam or transrectal ultrasonography * Continued elevated age-adjusted prostate-specific antigen (PSA) meeting at least 1 of the following criteria: * Screening PSA \> 4.0 ng/mL * Free PSA \< 18% * PSA velocity \> 0.75 ng/mL within the past year * Healthy volunteer meeting the following criteria: * Age-matched * Normal PSA level (≤ 2.1 ng/mL) * Normal digital rectal exam * No prostatitis or benign prostate hyperplasia * No urinary symptoms (diagnosed or undiagnosed) * No diagnosis of cancer PATIENT CHARACTERISTICS: Patients and healthy controls: * No chronic inflammatory conditions, especially those for which regular use of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory medications (NSAIDs) is prescribed/recommended, including any of the following: * Coronary heart disease * Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) * Psoriasis * Pelvic inflammatory disease * Multiple sclerosis * Arthritis * Lupus * Hashimoto thyroiditis * Inflammatory bowel disease (i.e., ulcerative colitis or Crohn disease) PRIOR CONCURRENT THERAPY: * No prior radiotherapy or surgery to the prostate (healthy controls)