To evaluate the role of NF‐κB and GDF‐15 in early prostate cancer development, we studied the prostate cancer risk associated with the expression of these two molecules in benign prostatic biopsies from a matched case‐control sample nested within a large retrospective cohort of men with a benign biopsy testing models stratified by race and other case characteristics. Here, GDF15 is linked to prostate carcinoma.