Scientists have discovered a bacteria linked to prostate cancer that has been seen as a potential revolution in the prevention and treatment of the most deadly form of the disease.
According to the newspaper theguardianResearchers led by the University of East Anglia performed complex genetic analyzes on the urine and prostate tissue of more than 600 men with and without prostate cancer, and found five types of bacteria linked to the rapid progression of the disease..
The study doesn’t prove that bacteria cause or exacerbate prostate cancer, but if work now underway confirms their role, researchers could develop tests to identify men at greatest risk and possibly find antibiotics to prevent the cancer from killing thousands of lives each year..
Dr Hayley Luxton from the University of Prostate Cancer UK, who co-funded the research, said: ‘This is an exciting discovery that has the potential to truly revolutionize treatment for men.” .
Writing in the European Journal of Urological Oncology, the scientists wrote how their genetic investigations found 5 types of bacteria – three new to science – linked to advanced prostate cancer. Men with one or more types in their urine, prostate or tumor tissue were 2.6 times more likely To see early-stage cancer progressing to more advanced disease than men who didn’t.
It’s possible that bacteria are not involved in the disease, said senior scientist Colin Cooper, professor of cancer genetics at the University of East Anglia. They strongly suspect that microbes are involved, just as H. pylori infection increases the risk of stomach cancer .
“If you know for sure that a type of bacteria causes prostate cancer, you can make an antibiotic to remove it and that will prevent its progression, one would hope,” Cooper said, but cautioned that this isn’t as straightforward as it seems. The vitals to the prostate are good and you will need to choose an antibiotic that only kills certain bacteria “.
While prostate cancer is the most common form of the disease found in men, in many cases patients die from the disease rather than from it.
“If the team can demonstrate that these newly identified bacteria can not only predict prostate cancer, but actually cause it, we may be able to prevent prostate cancer from occurring for the first time. This would be a major breakthrough that could save thousands of lives each year.. “
Types of bacteria and prostate cancer