Association between Chlamydia trachomatis Infection and Prostate Cancer: A Case-Control Study

Document Type : Original Research

Authors
N. Baseri 1
G. Eslami 2
Z. Ghalavand 2
H. Zham 3
E. Azargashb 4
1 1 Department of Microbiology, School of Medicine, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran2 Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Research Center for Emerging and Reemerging infectious diseases, Pasteur Institute of Iran, Tehran, Iran3 National Reference laboratory for Plague, Tularemia and Q fever, Research Center for Emerging and Reemerging infectious diseases, Pasture Institute of Iran, Akanlu, Kabudar Ahang, Hamadan, Iran
2 Department of Microbiology, School of Medicine, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
3 Cancer research center, Shohada-e Tajrishh Hospital, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
4 Department of community Medicine and Heaith, school of medicine, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
10.52547/iem.7.4.319
Abstract
Backgrounds: Evidence indicating the association of cancers and chronic inflammations is increasing. The importance of urinary tract and sexually transmitted infections (UTIs and STIs) in the development of prostate cancer is still unclear. Chlamydia trachomatis (C. trachomatis) is one of the most important causes of UTIs and STIs. Here, a case-control study was performed on the Iranian population to assess the association between C. trachomatis and prostate cancer (PC).

Materials & Methods: Paraffin-embedded prostate tissue specimens collected from 62 PC and 62 PBH (benign prostate hyperplasia) (as controls) patients were screened to detect C. trachomatis 16srRNA gene using nested polymerase chain reaction (nested PCR) method. A p-value < .05 was interpreted as a remarkable difference using SPSS statistical software Ver. 16.

Findings: There was a significant difference regarding the prevalence of C. trachomatis (p < .001; OR=10.07; 95% CI [2.81-36.001]) between the PC (33.87%) and BPH (4.84%) samples. Furthermore, prostate-specific antigen (PSA) levels were statistically higher (p< .05) in C. trachomatis-positive patients than in patients with negative C. trachomatis.

Conclusion: It could be concluded that patients with a history of C. trachomatis infections are more likely to develope PC. Therefore, early diagnosis and treatment of C. trachomatis infection may help the prevention of PC. Moreover, nested PCR is a suitable method for C. trachomatis detection in paraffin-embedded prostate tissue specimens.

Keywords

Subjects

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Infection Epidemiology and Microbiology
Volume 7, Issue 4
November 2021
Pages 319-326