Bacteria May Cause Prostate Cancer

The Australian researchers extracted tissue from prostate cancer surgery specimens after radical prostatectomies were performed. They performed special cultures for up to 45 days and used special DNA testing procedures to find the bacterium called P. acnes.

The authors of the study say that they, “… propose a microbial infection involving an indolent but persistent organism that is difficult to detect and difficult for the host to eradicate, as an etiological agent in prostatic inflammation and possibly the subsequent development of adenocarcinoma.”

This study could lead to cure for prostatitis as well as a way to prevent prostate cancer. During the last two decades, it was discovered that stomach inflammation leads to gastric cancer and that the cause was a bacterium called Helicobacter pylori. Curing the bacterial infection can cure ulcers and can prevent stomach cancer.

“It’s embarrassing that the prostatitis researchers of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) have not been doing such obviously needed research for prostatitis and prostate cancer,” says Dr. Bradley Hennenfent, author of the new book, “Surviving Prostate Cancer Without Surgery.”

Dr. Leroy Nyberg directs NIH prostatitis research, while Allen M. Spiegel, M.D., of the NIH’s NIDDK, oversees him, and the overall director of the NIH is Dr. Elias Zerhouni.

“The NIH should immediately perform studies to see if, using this model analogous to H. pylori, they can prevent the entire next generation of men from having to suffer prostate cancer,” says Dr. Hennenfent.

Current surgical treatment of prostate cancer is dismal. In the first randomized controlled study (Iversen et al.) of prostate cancer surgery versus placebo there was no significant increase in overall survival for men undergoing the radical prostatectomy after 23 years of follow-up. In the second randomized controlled trial (Bill-Axelson et al., 2005) of surgery versus watchful waiting the radical prostatectomy failed to extend overall survival 95% of the time even after 10 years of follow-up.

Dr. Hennenfent has seen five uncles suffer from prostate cancer and has seen them be treated by various methods. He co-founded the Prostatitis Foundation (www.Prostatitis.org), founded the Epididymitis Foundation (www.EpididymitisFoundation.org), founded the Prostatitis Research Foundation (http://www.prostatitisresearch.org), and founded the Acoustic Neuroma Foundation (www.AcousticNeuromaFoundation.org). He previously published "The Prostatitis Syndromes."

"Surviving Prostate Cancer Without Surgery" can be found in fine bookstores everywhere. Biblio Distribution (800-462-6420) distributes the book. It’s $19.95, a trade paperback, 334 pages, 34 chapters, ISBN Number: 0-9717454-1-2, and was published in early 2005. Twenty-seven illustrations and cartoons are included within the book, which also includes an extensive index.

Website: www.SurvivingProstateCancerWithoutSurgery.org.

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