(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
