Men with Chronic Inflammation at Increased Rate of Prostate Cancer

For many men, chronic inflammation can nearly double their risk for prostate cancer compared to those with little to no inflammation.

According to researchers from the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center, those with a Gleason score between 7 and 10 may show the presence of the most aggressive and rapidly growing prostate cancers.

"What we've shown in this observational study is a clear association between prostate inflammation and prostate cancer, although we can't prove that inflammation is a cause of prostate cancer," said Elizabeth A. Platz, Sc.D., M.P.H., a professor in the Department of Epidemiology at the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health and the School of Medicine, via a press release.

Researchers hope to find out what causes prostate inflammation, how it contributes to prostate cancer and whether the inflammation can be prevented.

For the study, researchers examined benign tissue samples taken from biopsies of 191 men with prostate cancer and 209 men without cancer. Next, they examined the samples for the prevalence and extent to which the cells carried inflammation. Findings showed that 86.2 percent of the prostate cancer patients had at least one tissue sample with signs of inflammation. On the other hand, 78.2 percent of men had signs of inflammation without cancer.

"We knew going into this research that inflammation in the prostate is very common in men who have biopsies because of the higher PSA levels and other indicators of prostate cancer," said De Marzo, who is a professor of pathology at Johns Hopkins' School of Medicine and associate director of cancer research pathology at its Kimmel Cancer Center, "but we did not anticipate the high prevalence of prostate inflammation in men who didn't have an indication for biopsy."

Researchers concluded that men with at least one tissue sample showed signs of chronic inflammation that indicated a 1.78 higher odds of having prostate cancer, which also indicated a 2.24 higher odds of having aggressive cancer.

"We knew going into this research that inflammation in the prostate is very common in men who have biopsies because of the higher PSA levels and other indicators of prostate cancer," said De Marzo, who is a professor of pathology at Johns Hopkins' School of Medicine and associate director of cancer research pathology at its Kimmel Cancer Center, "but we did not anticipate the high prevalence of prostate inflammation in men who didn't have an indication for biopsy." 

More information regarding the findings can be seen via the journal Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention.