Association of schistosomiasis and risk of prostate cancer development in residents of Murehwa rural community, Zimbabwe

Abstract

Background Prostatic male genital schistosomiasis and prostate cancer co-existence cases are uncommon however, some studies have indicated that schistosomiasis may trigger development of prostate cancer regardless of age. Schistosomiasis is a public health problem in sub-Saharan Africa and may account for some undocumented cases of schistosomiasis prostatic cancer in schistosome endemic rural communities. It is against this background that we investigated the association between schistosomiasis and risk of prostate cancer development in residents of Murehwa Community, a schistosomiasis endemic area. Methodology We conducted a cross sectional study involving 366 men residing in Murehwa District, Zimbabwe. Schistosoma haematobium and S. mansoni infection was diagnosed using urine filtration and Kato Katz techniques, respectively. Haematuria was detected using urinalysis reagent strip test. A structured questionnaire was used to obtain history of schistosomiasis infection among study participants. Risk of prostate cancer development was assessed by measuring prostate-specific antigen levels in serum using the ELISA. Results Prevalence of S. haematobium and S. mansoni infection was 12.3% and 1.4%, respectively. Individuals with schistosomiasis had higher prostate-specific antigen levels (mean 1.208 ± SD 1.557 ng/mL) compared to those without schistosomiasis (mean 0.7721 ± SD 1.173 ng/mL; p < 0.05). Older individuals > 50 years had higher prostate specific antigen levels (mean 0.7212 ± SD 1.313 ng/mL) compared to individuals < 50 years old (mean 0.4159 ± SD 0.8622 ng/mL; p < 0.05). Prostate-specific antigen levels log10 (mean 0.2584 ± SD 0.2128 ng/mL) and were associated to S. haematobium infection intensity log10 (mean 1.121 ± SD 0.5371 eggs/10 mL), r(s) = − 0.3225, p < 0.05. There was a correlation between prostate-specific antigen levels log10 (mean 0.2246 ± SD 0.1858 ng/mL) and S. haematobium infection intensity log10 (mean 1.169 ± SD 0.5568 eggs/10 mL) among participants with a history of schistosomiasis infection (r(s) = − 0.3520; p < 0.05). There was no correlation between prostate-specific antigen levels of > 4 ng/mL (mean 5.324 ± SD1.568 ng/mL) and schistosome eggs log10 (mean 1.057 ± SD 0.6730 eggs/10 mL; p > 0.05). Conclusion Urogenital schistosome infections and history of schistosome infections were associated with prostate specific antigen levels, an indicator for risk of prostate cancer. Therefore, S. haematobium schistosome egg burden was associated with the risk of prostate cancer development in adult males residing in Murehwa District, Zimbabwe.

Interleukin-13 rs1800925/-1112C/T promoter single nucleotide polymorphism variant linked to anti-schistosomiasis in adult males in Murehwa District, Zimbabwe

“…mansoni prevalence in each village was as follows: Dombwe 3.2%, Mutize 0%, Jekwa 3.5%, Guzha 10%, Magaya 13.2%, Inyagui 11.9%, Kapasura 37.7% and Kareza 13.5%. The above presented data has been previously reported by Choto et al (2020) [ 44 ]. There was unsuccessful genotyping of 10 samples hence, the genotypic frequency distribution of IL-13 -1112C/T polymorphism for 356 participants are shown in Table 2 .…”

“…As reported by Choto et al (2020) [ 44 ], qualitative detection of prostate-specific antigen levels was done using enzyme linked immuno-sorbent assay (ELISA) using R &D Human Kallikrein 3/prostate-specific antigen Duo Set ELISA; DY1344 and R&D systems catalog # DY008 ancillary kit (96 well microplates, plate sealers, substrate solution, stop solution, plate coating buffer (PBS), wash buffer, and reagent diluent concentrate) according to the manufacturer’s instruction. All samples and standards were measured in duplicate and concentrations were determined from a standard curve using mean optical density values.…”

“…This is a sub-study of November 2019 prostate cancer and schistosomiasis cross-sectional study that included 366 male adult participants recruited from Murehwa District, Mashonaland East province in Zimbabwe where Schistosoma haematobium is endemic [ 44 ]. The study area was chosen because it has a high schistosomiasis burden of 47.4% in school aged children a representative of the study population [ 52 ].…”

“…We purposely recruited male adults aged 18 years and above residence of Murehwa District, Zimbabwe. However, the number of participants recruited ended up being 366 because more men met the study criteria [ 44 ]. Hence, the sample can be considered representative of a larger population in the study area.…”

“…Recently, Choto et al . (2020) [ 44 ] showed that S . haematobium egg burden was associated with the risk of prostate cancer development in adult males [ 45 ].…”