%0 Journal Article
%T Serum antibodies against genitourinary infectious agents in prostate cancer and benign prostate hyperplasia patients: a case-control study
%A Jan Hrbacek
%A Michael Urban
%A Eva Hamsikova
%A Ruth Tachezy
%A Vaclav Eis
%A Marek Brabec
%A Jiri Heracek
%J BMC Cancer
%D 2011
%I BioMed Central
%R 10.1186/1471-2407-11-53
%X A total of 434 males who had undergone open prostate surgery in a single institution were included in the study: 329 PCa patients and 105 controls with BPH. The subjects' serum samples were analysed by means of enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, complement fixation test and indirect immunofluorescence for the presence of antibodies against common genitourinary infectious agents: human papillomavirus (HPV) 6, 11, 16, 18, 31 and 33, herpes simplex virus (HSV) 1 and 2, human cytomegalovirus (CMV), Chlamydia trachomatis, Mycoplasma hominis, Ureaplasma urealyticum, Neisseria gonorrhoeae and Treponema pallidum. Antibody seroprevalence and mean serum antibody levels were compared between cases and controls. Tumour grade and stage were correlated with serological findings.PCa patients were more likely to harbour antibodies against Ureaplasma urealyticum (odds ratio (OR) 2.06; 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.08-4.28). Men with BPH were more often seropositive for HPV 18 and Chlamydia trachomatis (OR 0.23; 95% CI 0.09-0.61 and OR 0.45; 95% CI 0.21-0.99, respectively) and had higher mean serum CMV antibody levels than PCa patients (p = 0.0004). Among PCa patients, antibodies against HPV 6 were associated with a higher Gleason score (p = 0.0305).Antibody seropositivity against the analyzed pathogens with the exception of Ureaplasma does not seem to be a risk factor for PCa pathogenesis. The presence or higher levels of serum antibodies against the genitourinary pathogens studied were not consistently associated with PCa. Serostatus was not a predictor of disease stage in the studied population.Prostate cancer (PCa) is one of the most important health issues in the aging male population, especially in the industrialized Western world. In the EU in 2006, it accounted for approximately 20% of all noncutaneous cancers [1]. In the United States, 217.730 new cases were estimated to occur in 2010 (28% of all new cancer cases in men except for basal and squamous cell skin carcinomas) an
%U http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2407/11/53