At least five bacteria – some of which are not known to science – have been discovered in the urine of men with aggressive forms of prostate cancer, British researchers have announced.
We will now try to determine if these bacteria play a role in the onset of the disease or if they appear afterwards.
Question of chicken and eggs.comment by Dr. Fred Saad, of the University of Montreal Hospital Center (CHUM).
If scientists decide that bacteria are responsible for the development of the disease, we can consider fighting it or preventing it with antibiotics. If we assume instead that they are present in the urine after the onset of cancer, they could be biomarkers that will be added to the arsenal of screening tests available to doctors.
Researchers at the University of East Anglia, England, studied the cases of about 600 men with or without prostate cancer. They found five bacteria in the urine and tissue of men whose disease had taken an aggressive form.
All are anaerobic bacteria. Two of them, who were baptized Porphyromonas bobii at Varibaculum prostatecancerukianever seen before.
It is actually a hope that patients who are more at risk of developing prostate cancer, and especially patients who are more at risk of developing prostate cancer who need care can be identified.said Dr. Saad.
Some prostate cancers, he pointed out, are almost insignificant, because they can never harm the patient. So it may be better, in these cases, not to find them, because the disadvantages of the treatment may outweigh its advantages.
Canada also leads in this conservative approach to monitoring and was one of the first to decide that it was not necessary to treat all prostate cancers identified, Drs. Saad.
That being said, some patients will eventually die from their cancer, despite everything we dohe said.
We need to find ways to know who will be targeted for biopsies, and especially who will be targeted for more aggressive treatments.specialist explanation.
If the role of bacteria in other diseases such as colon cancer or lung cancer is known, it is not so much about prostate cancer or urinary or genital cancers, so this is a step in the right directionend of Dr. Saad.
The findings of this study were published in the journal European Urology Oncology.
Source: Radio-Canada