Scientists have found a big difference between the gut microbiota of men with benign biopsies and those with prostate cancer. Even though the finding is just an association, it could help explain why some places have higher rates of prostate cancer than others.

Gut microbiota is home to the microbes that live in the digestive tract. They affect how the body works and what it does. The health of the gut microbiota has been linked to various illnesses, including those in organs remote from the intestines, but their significance in prostate cancer is unknown.

In a prospective multi-center clinical investigation (NCT02241122), Professor Peter Bostrom and colleagues at the University of Turku analyzed patient samples. The bacteria in the digestive tracts of 181 males undergoing diagnostic testing for prostate cancer were sequenced. After MRI scans, microbiota samples were taken at the time of prostate biopsies.

The gut microbiota profiles of the 60% of the men who had prostate cancer diagnoses were noticeably different from those of the men who had benign biopsies.

Prevotella 9, a member of the Erysipelotrichaceae family, and Escherichia-Shigella, a pathogen that causes diarrhea, were found in higher concentrations in the cancer-stricken men.

In comparison to those without, they also had reduced concentrations of Jonquetella, Moryella, Anaeroglobus, Corynebacterium, and CAG-352.

According to Professor Bostrom, there are large regional variations in prostate cancer rates, which may be brought on by lifestyle and dietary variances, hereditary factors, or variations in healthcare systems. Some of these changes may be explained by the gut microbiota of men with and without prostate cancer. The potential for employing gut microbiota for both diagnostic and preventative measures merits further study.

Although it is the most frequent form of cancer in men in the world, the rates of incidence vary greatly from region to region, and the reasons for these differences are not well understood. In the majority of Western nations, it is widespread, but less so elsewhere. Despite the fact that it is inherited, there is evidence that men who move from regions with low to high incidences of prostate cancer have a higher lifetime chance of developing the disease, and their children also have the risk of the high incidence region.

“This is a striking finding from a large well-conducted trial,” says Lars Dyrskjt Andersen, professor of molecular medicine at Aarhus University and member of the EAU22 Scientific Congress Committee of Urology.

“We should be careful with observed associations when it comes to complicated epidemiology, and no cause-and-effect measures can be determined based on this, but certainly the gut microbiota could be an important area to investigate further to enhance our understanding of prostate cancer risk.”

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