Common Sexually Transmitted Infection Linked to Prostate Cancer
Reported September 10, 2009
(Ivanhoe Newswire) — Researchers discovered a link between a sexually transmitted infection and prostate cancer.
Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) and Brigham and Women’s Hospital researchers found strong correlations between Trichomonas vaginalis, the most common non-viral sexually transmitted infection, and the risk of deadly prostate cancer in men.
Trichomonas vaginalis affects approximately 174 million people globally every year
In this study, researchers analyzed 673 blood samples of men with prostate cancer and compared the infection status based on antibody levels to 673 men who were not diagnosed with prostate cancer. These blood samples were taken in 1982, averaging a decade before cancer diagnosis.
Researchers found that Trichomonas vaginalis was linked with a two-fold increase in prostate cancer and a three-fold increase in prostate cancer that would result in death.
“The fact that we found a strong association between serologic evidence of infection with Tirchomonas vaginalis, a potentially modifiable risk factor, and risk of advanced and lethal disease represents a step forward in prostate cancer, especially given that so few risk factors for aggressive prostate cancer have been identified,” Lorelei Mucci, senior author of the study and assistant professor in the department of epidemiology at HSPH, was quoted as saying.
SOURCE: Journal of the National Cancer, September 9, 2009