Scientists have discovered bacteria associated with aggressive prostate cancer in work hailed as a potential revolution in the prevention and treatment of the deadliest form of the disease.
Researchers led by the University of East Anglia conducted complex genetic analyzes of the urine and prostate tissue of more than 600 men with and without prostate cancer and identified five types of bacteria linked to the rapid progression of the disease.
The study does not prove that bacteria cause or exacerbate prostate cancer, but if work now confirms their role, researchers could develop tests to identify the most at-risk men and potentially find antibiotics to prevent cancer from taking thousands of lives each year. .
“This is an exciting discovery that has the potential to truly revolutionize treatment in men,” said Dr Hailey Luxton of prostate cancer in the United Kingdom, who co-funded the study.
Writing in the journal European Urology Oncology, scientists describe how their genetic research has discovered five types of bacteria – three new to science – that have been linked to advanced prostate cancer. Men who had one or more of the species in their urine, prostate, or tumor tissue were 2.6 times more likely to see the progression of cancer at an early stage to advanced disease than men who did not.
Lead scientist Colin Cooper, a professor of cancer genetics at the University of East Anglia, said the bacteria may not be involved. For example, men with more aggressive prostate cancer may have deficiencies in the immune system that allow certain bacteria to thrive. But researchers strongly suspect that microbes are involved, just as Helicobacter pylori infections increase the risk of stomach cancer.
“If you knew for sure that a type of bacterium causes prostate cancer, you could come up with an antibiotic to eliminate it and prevent it from progressing, one would hope,” Cooper said. But it’s not as simple as it sounds, he warned. “There are many complications. “Antibiotics don’t work very well in the prostate, and you’ll have to choose an antibiotic that only kills certain bacteria,” he said.
While prostate cancer is the most common form of the disease in men, in many cases patients die with the disease rather than because of it. More aggressive forms of prostate cancer claim around 12,000 lives in the UK each year.
Professor Rosalind Yiles, a cancer geneticist at the Cancer Research Institute in London, said it was a “very interesting result” to detect “new microorganisms” in prostate cancer. “It is not yet known if they are the culprits, but if this can be proven, then we have a potential path to prevention,” she said. “The way we can prove this is to see if these organisms have never been found in prostate samples that don’t have cancer.
Genetic information about microbes has already allowed scientists to gather how they can behave in the body, including what toxins and other substances they can excrete. This led them to develop half a dozen hypotheses about how bugs can cause prostate cancer.
“Currently, we have no way to reliably identify aggressive prostate cancer, and this study could help ensure that men receive the right treatment for them,” Luxton added.
“If the team can prove that these newly discovered bacteria can not only predict, but actually cause aggressive prostate cancer, for the first time we may be able to prevent prostate cancer. That would be a huge breakthrough that could save thousands of lives every year. “
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