Prostate cancer: Some bacteria create the imbalance that then leads to cancer. In the future, following these bacteria and treating these imbalances will prevent cancer
A man dies of prostate cancer every 45 minutes. Prostate cancer is the most common non-skin malignancy in men in developed countries, with more than 250,000 deaths worldwide each year. Now a group of researchers from Norwich Medical School, University of East Anglia (UK), Rachel Hurst, Emma Meader, Abraham Gihawi, Daniel S. Brewer, John Wain and Colin S. Cooper, have discovered five types of common bacteria in urine. and in tissue samples from men with aggressive prostate cancer.
A revolutionary discovery. We didn’t know why some prostate cancers become more aggressive and others less so. Now it turns out that these bacteria which are anaerobic, that is, they can grow without the presence of oxygen, would play a fundamental role.
In the study “Microbiomes of Urine and the Prostate Are Linked to Human Prostate Cancer Risk Groups”, published on April 18 in European Urology Oncologythe correlations between these involved bacteria and aggression are shown.
But in addition to identifying the five types of bacteria, the researchers also identified the potential biological mechanisms how these bacteria can be linked to cancer.
For this reason, the five anaerobic bacteria have prognostic potential.
The infection-cancer association is well known. Examples are given in a press release from the University of East Anglia: “We already know of some strong associations between infections and cancer. For example, the presence of the bacterium Helicobacter pylori in the digestive tract can cause stomach ulcers and is associated with stomach cancer, and some types of HPV viruses can cause cervical cancer. ” For this reason, the researchers followed the path of bacteria as an element to investigate prostate cancer.
A fundamental discovery of this research that in a prosaic way could be explained as follows: specific kinds of bacteria can create the imbalance that then leads to prostate cancer and its aggressiveness; in the future, by treating these imbalances and intervening on these bacteria, cancer can be prevented and treated.
The study was done on 600 patients with or without prostate cancer. The names of the bacteria found by the team are Anaerococcus, Peptoniphilus, Porphyromonas, Fenollaria and Fusobacterium. On the website of the University of East Anglia it is explained that “two of the new species of bacteria found by the team were named after two of the funders of the study: Porphyromonas bobii, from The Bob Champion Cancer Trust and Varibaculum prostatecancerukia, from prostate cancer in United Kingdom”
Dr Hurst also said: “Among the things we don’t yet know is how people collect these bacteria, whether they are causing cancer or whether a poor immune response allows the bacteria to grow. But let’s hope ours outcomes and future work may lead to new treatment options, which could slow or prevent the development of aggressive prostate cancer. Our work could also lay the groundwork for new tests that use bacteria to predict the most effective treatment for every man’s cancer. “
This is an important diagnostic and therapeutic discovery that could save millions of people.
Professor Daniel Brewer, of UEA’s Norwich Medical School added: “Knowing when we can look and wait or if we need to start treatment is a major challenge for people with prostate cancer. If we can target aggressive tumors while sparing other unnecessary treatments, we will greatly improve the way we manage this disease.”.
Research conducted by the University of East Anglia was done in collaboration with the Quadram Institute and Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital. But other figures from the Universities of Oxford, Cambridge, Manchester, St Andrews and Auckland, the Earlham Institute, the Institute of Cancer Research, the Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust and Cancer Research UK also collaborated.