Saman Saadat1,2,3, Pezhman Karami1, Mohammad Jafari4, Mahdi Kholoujini5, Zahra Rikhtegaran Tehrani3, Younes Mohammadi6, Mohammad Yousef Alikhani1. 1. Department of Microbiology, School of Medicine, Hamadan University of Medical Sciences, Shahid Fahmideh Street, Hamadan, Iran, 65178. 2. Department of Microbiology, Sarem Cell Research Center, Sarem Women's Hospital, Phase 3 Ekbatan, Tehran, Iran, 13969-56111. 3. Institute of Human Virology, University of Maryland, School of Medicine, 725 West Lombard Street, Baltimore, MD, USA, 21201. 4. Department of Pathology, School of Medicine, Hamadan University of Medical Sciences, Shahid Fahmideh Street, Hamadan, Iran, 65178. 5. Department of Medical Mycology, School of Medicine, University of Tarbiate Modares, Jalal Ale-Ahmad Highway, Tehran, Iran, 14115. 6. Department of Epidemiology, School of Medicine, Hamadan University of Medical Sciences, Shahid Fahmideh Street, Hamadan, Iran, 65178.
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Mycoplasma hominis, an opportunistic pathogen in human genitourinary tract, can cause chronic infection in the prostate. Intracellular survival of M. hominis leads to a prolonged presence in the host cells that can affect the cell's biological cycle. In the present study, we aimed to evaluate the frequency of M. hominis DNA in prostate tissue of Iranian patients with prostate cancer (PCa) in comparison to a control group with benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH). METHODS: This research was a retrospective case-control study using 61 archived formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded (FFPE) blocks of prostate tissue from patients with PCa and 70 FFPE blocks of patients with BPH. Real-time PCR, targeting two different genes, 16S rRNA and yidC, in the M. hominis genome was performed for all specimens. RESULTS: Out of 61 blocks of prostate biopsy from patients with PCa, eight samples (13%) were positive for M. hominis, while the bacterium was not detected in any of the 70 blocks of patients with BPH (P value, 0.002). CONCLUSIONS: The high frequency of M. hominis in patients with PCa likely shows a hidden role of the organism in prostate cancer during its chronic, apparently silent and asymptomatic colonization in prostate.
BACKGROUND:Mycoplasma hominis, an opportunistic pathogen in human genitourinary tract, can cause chronic infection in the prostate. Intracellular survival of M. hominis leads to a prolonged presence in the host cells that can affect the cell's biological cycle. In the present study, we aimed to evaluate the frequency of M. hominis DNA in prostate tissue of Iranian patients with prostate cancer (PCa) in comparison to a control group with benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH). METHODS: This research was a retrospective case-control study using 61 archived formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded (FFPE) blocks of prostate tissue from patients with PCa and 70 FFPE blocks of patients with BPH. Real-time PCR, targeting two different genes, 16S rRNA and yidC, in the M. hominis genome was performed for all specimens. RESULTS: Out of 61 blocks of prostate biopsy from patients with PCa, eight samples (13%) were positive for M. hominis, while the bacterium was not detected in any of the 70 blocks of patients with BPH (P value, 0.002). CONCLUSIONS: The high frequency of M. hominis in patients with PCa likely shows a hidden role of the organism in prostate cancer during its chronic, apparently silent and asymptomatic colonization in prostate.