Trichomonas vaginalis infection and prostate‐specific antigen concentration: Insights into prostate involvement and prostate disease risk

Abstract

Background: The protist Trichomonas vaginalis causes a common, sexually transmitted infection and has been proposed to contribute to the development of chronic prostate conditions, including benign prostatic hyperplasia and prostate cancer. However, few studies have investigated the extent to which it involves the prostate in the current antimicrobial era. We addressed this question by investigating the relation between T. vaginalis antibody serostatus and serum prostate‐specific antigen (PSA) concentration, a marker of prostate infection, inflammation, and/or cell damage, in young, male, US military members. Methods: We measured T. vaginalis serum IgG antibodies and serum total PSA concentration in a random sample of 732 young, male US active duty military members. Associations between T. vaginalis serostatus and PSA were investigated by linear regression. Results: Of the 732 participants, 341 (46.6%) had a low T. vaginalis seropositive score and 198 (27.0%) had a high score, with the remainder seronegative. No significant differences were observed in the distribution of PSA by T. vaginalis serostatus. However, slightly greater, nonsignificant differences were observed when men with high T. vaginalis seropositive scores were compared with seronegative men, and when higher PSA concentrations were examined (≥0.70 ng/mL). Specifically, 42.5% of men with high seropositive scores had a PSA concentration greater than or equal to 0.70 ng/mL compared with 33.2% of seronegative men (adjusted P = .125). Conclusions: Overall, our findings do not provide strong support for prostate involvement during T. vaginalis infection, although our suggestive positive findings for higher PSA concentrations do not rule out this possibility entirely. These suggestive findings may be relevant for prostate condition development because higher early‐ to mid‐life PSA concentrations have been found to predict greater prostate cancer risk later in life.

The Crosstalk between Prostate Cancer and Microbiota Inflammation: Nutraceutical Products Are Useful to Balance This Interplay?

“…Moreover, the presence of an induced prostatic infection with Escherichia coli, in addition to the consumption of a diet enriched with a cyclic amine, the 2-amino-1-methyl-6-phenylimidazo [4,5-b]pyridine (PhIP) (a well-known prostatic carcinogen in rodents), further increased the risk of PCa development in mice with a marked drop in survival rate compared with PhIP-alone-treated animals, thus suggesting chronic inflammation as an enabling characteristic of PCa [72]. Cai et al, reported a significant increase in Gram-positive strains in patients with chronic prostatitis and a successively diagnosed PCa [73], while other significant associations between cancer development and infection were shown also for Mycoplasma hominis [74] and Trichomonas vaginalis [75,76]. In particular, previous Trichomonas vaginalis infection could create a favorable microenvironment, promoting PCa cell proliferation and invasiveness (activating the epithelial-mesenchymal transition), in addition to an increased overall inflammatory state of the gland [77].…”

The Molecular Characterization and Immunity Identification of Trichomonas vaginalis Adhesion Protein 33 (AP33)

“…Moreover, premature rupture of membranes, premature delivery, abortion and low birth weight may occur in pregnant women infected with T. vaginalis. In recent years, studies have shown that cervical cancer in women, prostate cancer in men and infertility are associated with the infection of T. vaginalis (Langston et al, 2019). In addition, the widespread prevalence of T. vaginalis increases the risk of human infection with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and mycoplasma (Fiori et al, 2013;Makarova et al, 2017).…”

Inflammation driven tumor‐like signaling in prostatic epithelial cells by sexually transmitted Trichomonas vaginalis

“…Chronic inflammation is also associated with increased expressions of Bcl‐2, PCNA, Ki‐67 and COX‐2 54,55 . Ki67 and PCNA are considered as prognostic biomarkers of prostate cancer, 56 and Bcl‐2 family proteins are associated with several cancers, including the prostate cancer, making them useful therapeutic targets 57 . The significant upregulation of Ki‐67, PCNA and Bcl‐2/Bcl‐xL, and downregulation of Bak and Bax in prostatic epithelial cells during T. vaginalis infection might imply that male trichomoniasis patients are at increased risk of developing CaP.…”