Study led by UK Cancer Researchers Identifies Bacteria Associated with Deadly Prostate Disease—Precision Assays Could Follow

Study led by UK Cancer Researchers Identifies Bacteria Associated with Deadly Prostate Disease—Precision Assays Could Follow trialsitenews.com 

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Study led by UK Cancer Researchers Identifies Bacteria Associated with Deadly Prostate DiseasePrecision Assays Could Follow

TrialSite Staff
4 minutes

A group of UK-based scientists recently reported on the results of a study investigating connecting five types of bacteria with cancers such as prostate cancer. A deadly disease killing 12,000 men annually in the UK alone with about 34,500 deaths in America, the recent study helps pave the way to determining the aggressiveness of the cancer. Published in European Urology Oncology, the study team led by medical researchers at Norwich Medical School as well as peers at Norfolk University and Norwich University Hospital, the Quadram Institute and other collaborators found five genera (types) of bacteria associated with aggressive prostate cancer.

Prostate cancer causes lots of problems in the United States according to the National Cancer Institute (NCI).

UK Cancer researchers have found over the years that some cancers can be caused by both viruses and bacteria. For example, human papillomavirus (HPV) is associated with cervical cancer, while accumulating data suggests a connection between Fusobacterium nucleatum, a bacteria, and colon cancer.

Colin S. Cooper a professor of cancer genetics at Norwich Medical School served the study team as corresponding author.

The UK-based study team reports the five categories of bacteria associated with prostate cancer, known as “anaerobic bacteria biomarkers set” or “ABBS,” include:

  • Anaerococcus
  • Peptoniphilus
  • Porphyromonas
  • Fenollaria
  • Fusobacterium

During the process of investigating subdivided genera into species, the study team discovered new species of bacteria. In fact, three of these are associated with the genera linked to aggressive prostate cancer. They named two of the discovered bacteria species after the study funders:

  • Porphyromonas bobii, after the Bob Champion Cancer Trust
  • Varibaculum prostatecancerukia, after Prostate Cancer UK.

The Study

Securing samples from 600 men with and without prostate cancer, the study team investigated both tissue and urine samples probing for one of the five specific anaerobic bacteria—the kind that grows without oxygen. They found that patient samples with cancer overall were associated with the aggressive forms of cancer.

In fact, men with one of the identified bacteria face almost three times the risk to experience early-stage cancer with advancement to severe cancer as compared to those men who didn’t have the identified bacteria in their urine or prostate.

Moreover, the study team investigated associated mechanisms involving the bacteria to cancer link such as impacts on the metabolism of the host human cells.

Testing

While present-day prostate cancer tests like the PSA test or biopsy can’t always identify the more aggressive forms of the cancer, the goal of this study team centers on the ABBS bacteria as a means of improving predictive capabilities.

About Norwich Medical School

Based in East Anglia in Norwich, England, Norwich Medical School is part of the Faculty of Medicine and health sciences at the University of East Anglia.  This medical school opened for students in 2002. With a 5-year MBBS course, the medical school has just under 900 students.

Call to Action: Hopefully, a new prostate cancer associated with bacteria-based biomarkers emerges. The team hopes to develop superior, expedited assays to detect the five targeted bacteria while also investigating new therapeutic treatment pathways to destroy the dangerous bacteria associated with the development of the disease.

 

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