Every yr, around 12,000 men More people die from prostate cancer within the UK, but much more die from prostate cancer. So knowing whether the disease is progressing quickly is significant to know what to treat.
Our latest study, published in European Urology Oncology, sheds some light on understanding which cancers will grow rapidly and aggressively and which can not. Part of the reply lies in five forms of bacteria.
For some years, we’ve known that pathogens (bacteria and viruses) could cause cancer. We know, for instance, that it’s related to Stomach cancer And that the human papillomavirus (HPV) could cause. Lower uterine cancer. There can be growing evidence that bacteria are involved. Colorectal cancer.
Here at Norwich Medical School, together with our colleagues at Norfolk and Norwich University Hospitals, the Quadrum Institute, and others, we’ve identified Five types (genera) of bacteria Associated with aggressive prostate cancer. These are , , , and . We call these the “Anaerobic Bacteria Biomarker Set”, or ABBS.
Bacterial genera are further divided into “species”. And here we found 4 completely latest species of bacteria, three of that are linked to the species related to aggressive prostate cancer.
We named the 2 latest species of bacteria after two of the study's funders: Bob after the Champion Cancer Trust and after Prostate Cancer UK.
We examined prostate tissue and urine samples from greater than 600 men with and without prostate cancer, and when the patient samples contained any of 5 specific anaerobic bacteria (bacteria that may grow within the absence of oxygen) was found to be related to faster growth. Aggressive disease from cancer.
In fact, men who had a number of of the bacteria were nearly 3 times more prone to develop early-stage cancer into advanced disease than men who had no bacteria of their urine or prostate.
We also explored possible mechanisms of how these bacteria could also be linked to cancer, including possible effects on the metabolism of host human cells.
Towards a greater test
Current prostate cancer tests, similar to PSA tests and biopsies, cannot all the time predict which cancers will likely be malignant. We hope that a brand new test that appears for the ABBS group of bacteria will have the option to detect and screen for potentially aggressive prostate cancer. The latest test will likely be just like tests developed to detect HPV linked to stomach cancer or cervical cancer.
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Together with our colleagues, we’re currently working on it. We are planning to develop robust, rapid tests to detect five signature bacteria and investigate latest treatment options to eliminate these bacteria from the urinary tract, bladder and prostate.
Despite our exciting discovery, necessary questions still remain unanswered, similar to, do bacteria cause prostate cancer? If so, how? Also, can we use therapeutic options to kill the bacteria to forestall the event of aggressive disease? Hopefully we’ll get answers to those questions soon.